http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/basketball/8514424.htm Posted on Sun, Apr. 25, 2004 Hornets' 'Baby Shaq' BY STEPHEN F. HOLDER [email protected] Robert Traylor is big. Really, really big. We learned this on Saturday from talking to those who have taken on the New Orleans forward-center and gained an appreciation for his size. "I've seen him crashing [the boards] on a fast break, and when he comes in there, it's just like parting the Red Sea," said Hornets forward P.J. Brown, who battles Traylor in daily practices. Brown admits to occasionally making the mistake of engaging in trash talk with the 6-8, 284-pound "Tractor" Traylor. That typically doesn't end well for the 6-11, 239-pound Brown -- or any other player, for that matter. We know this from asking Heat center Brian Grant. He spoke of a one-on-one encounter with Traylor, a man who outweighs the well-built Grant by 30 pounds. "He got me good one time," Grant said. "I didn't actually go to the ground, but I definitely moved. If I see him coming and I brace -- I'm not going anywhere. But if not, he's moving me." When it comes to standing up to Traylor, much of it has to do with a state of mind. For the Heat's big men, there is a simple but clear mantra they live by. "We have a rule around here: You have to meet force with force," forward Samaki Walker said. "What you try to do is go out and be as aggressive as possible. A guy like Robert, he's going to deliver some punishment on a night-in-night-out basis. You just have to stay low and don't let him dominate you." That's usually easier said than done. There might be only one guy who can truly withstand the force of a blow from Traylor. His name? Shaquille O'Neal, the Lakers' 340-pound center. But O'Neal's weight is spread over a 7-1 frame. Traylor's mass is much more compact. While Traylor doesn't have the offensive talent of O'Neal, he can create Shaq-like havoc. "[Traylor] is like a baby Shaq," Brown said. "If you made him 7-1, he'd be Shaq, basically." EMPTY FEELING After watching Heat fans pile into AmericanAirlines Arena for Games 1 and 2 of this series, the Hornets hoped to get a similar reception. That didn't happen, however. New Orleans Arena, though it did become loud at some moments during the game, didn't have a capacity crowd. The team announced a crowd of 14,251, well short of the facility's capacity of 17,200. And at tipoff time, which was noon Central, the arena seemed half-filled -- at most. Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks showed up and plopped down in his second-row seat shortly after the game's start, but he was surrounded by a good number of empty ones. But then, the game followed a long night of revelry, and this is, after all, the Big Easy. Promptness is not exactly a priority. THAT'S MOTIVATING? Heat forward Lamar Odom used a strange analogy when trying to rev up his team Saturday morning. "I was telling the team before the game that if somebody was trying to kill you with their bare hands, what would you do?" he said. Odom was trying to say the Heat would be in for a fight and needed to fight back, but that's one way of putting it. --

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