MIAMI -- Alonzo Mourning heard booing only once Sunday, when he told the crowd that he was leaving Miami and joining the New Jersey Nets.

	Mourning

His next words elicited the response Mourning typically drew from Heat fans: raucous cheering.

"There's always going to be a piece of the Miami Heat in my heart, always," Mourning said. "That will never leave. I don't care where I go. I'm always going to pump black and red through my veins."

Mourning played for the final time before a home crowd in Miami on Sunday night, joining other NBA stars in his annual Zo's Summer Groove charity game. He played publicly for the first time since last year's game, scoring 21 points in his team's 152-142 win.

His eight-year association with the Heat will officially end Wednesday, when he signs a four-year contract with the Nets.

"It'll hit me when we move into our new home," Mourning said. "The hardest thing for me was to sit up in (Heat coach Pat Riley's) office and tell him I wanted to go in a different direction."

Kidney disease has kept Mourning out of NBA action since April 2002. But if he's healthy, the seven-time All-Star figures to help New Jersey -- the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion.

Mourning was one of the game's dominant big men before being diagnosed with focal glomerulosclerosis before the 2000-01 season. He averaged 19.8 points and 9.7 rebounds in his tenure with Miami -- numbers Riley said have earned Mourning the right to have his jersey retired one day.

"He just made our job that much more difficult," Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal said. "Here's a guy who is going to go out and not just defend, but he can score, he can keep the pressure on you. I wish him the best of luck and think he deserves an opportunity to compete for a championship -- but hopefully not this year."

Mourning missed all but the final 13 games of the 2000-01 season yet returned the following year. He played in 75 games and earned an All-Star selection.

But the disease worsened, causing him to miss all of last season, his last in a seven-year, $105 million pact with the Heat. Mourning has received medical clearance to resume playing but is still afflicted with the disease. The ailment usually leads to chronic kidney failure within 10 years of initial diagnosis.

"I feel great now," Mourning said.

Mourning accepted the Nets' $22 million offer. He said that playing with Jason Kidd provides him with the best chance of winning his first NBA title.

"If he wouldn't have gotten sick, it would have been different, he probably would have been playing in Miami," said Gary Payton, expected to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers this week. "Things happen, and you've got to move on. I think everybody's got to understand he's got to move on for the best of his family and what his career is."

The exhibition game was the final event of Mourning's weekend charity fund-raiser, now in its seventh year.

Mourning raised at least $4 million the past six years, plus was largely responsible for the building of a youth center in an economically depressed section of downtown Miami.

He said that Miami will remain his permanent home and that his charity work in the city will continue.

"A lot of people have a lot of mixed feelings about this, and understandably so," Mourning said of his departure. "But ultimately, it had to come down to whatever makes Zo and his family happy."