PHILADELPHIA VS. INDIANA MILWAUKEE VS. ORLANDO MIAMI VS. CHARLOTTE NEW YORK VS. TORONTO SAN ANTONIO VS. MINNESOTA L.A. LAKERS VS. PORTLAND SACRAMENTO VS. PHOENIX UTAH VS. DALLAS

Wednesday, May 30 Miami Nice: Hornets fattening up on Heat By David Aldridge Special to ESPN.com Everyone knows Jamal Mashburn's motivation to beat the Miami Heat. Jamal Mashburn is one of several Hornets driven on beating Pat Riley's Heat. Everyone knows P.J. Brown's motivation to beat the Miami Heat. Everyone knows Otis Thorpe's motivation to beat the Miami Heat. But there is another man who has a strong reason to want to close out the Heat on Friday and pull off the first-round upset of the South Beach Crew. Paul Silas must be taking a secret delight in the first two games of this postseason, when his Charlotte Hornets have spanked Pat Riley's Heat by a combined 52 points. He is too classy to admit to it for the record. But Silas did not have a warm and fuzzy relationship with Riles when he was an assistant coach in New York from 1989 to 1992. And it has been rumored for years that when Silas left the Knicks, he didn't get anything approaching a strong recommendation from Riley. To the contrary, word was that Riley questioned Silas' work ethic. And that that was a factor in Silas not getting more than perfunctory interviews for head coaching jobs. "All that other stuff is in the past," Silas said this week. "Life is too short to be dwelling on negatives. I'm just glad that the opportunity presented itself." Coleman Wesley Silas has taken advantage of the second chance at a head gig, 18 years after the first. For the first three months of this season, the Hornets had the league's best record. But from early-January through the All-Star break, Charlotte was putrid. David Wesley's performance tailed off noticeably, and the Hornets seemed to sag whenever Derrick Coleman was anywhere within shouting distance. Rumblings began about Silas' future, with Mike Fratello's ubiquitous name coming up. The Hornets were passed for the Central Division lead by the Bucks, and most people (me included) wrote them off as a serious factor. Down the stretch of the regular season, they dropped eight of 10, and at one point, after another bad loss, Silas said his team was "as soft as tissue paper." To add to all the drama, the team's owners were begging for a new arena and threatening to bolt town if they didn't get one. In March, they applied for relocation to Memphis on the same day the Vancouver Grizzlies announced they wanted to move there. “ I knew if we played Miami, that Mash and P.J. were especially going to do their darndest to play well. Especially Mash. He wanted to beat them as bad, if not worse, than P.J. Mash was just totally focused. Sometimes, you don't know why everything clicks together, but it does. I've been on teams like that. Everyone starts falling in love with one another. I've never seen our bench so alive. Everyone is rooting for one another, and when a guy comes off the floor, they start rooting for the next guy. ” — Paul Silas But just when things looked bleak, Charlotte won four straight games right at the end of the regular season. They were over the Nets, Pistons, Hawks and Celtics, so very few people noticed. But Silas thought the streak was a season-saver. "We've been a team of ups and downs all season," Silas said. "We'd win three in a row and lose two in a row. But I felt pretty good because we picked it up at the end of the year ... the last four games, our focus was really sharp, and we won four in a row ... all four of those games were winnable games, and if we had lost any of those four, I would have been worried. But we won them all." Entering the playoffs, Silas focused his team on its positives. They led the league in rebound percentage during the regular season, they were fourth in rebounding and they had veteran guys with something to prove and a certain hair-slicked coach against whom to prove it. Silas went to two-a-day practices before last Saturday's first game, and the Hornets had some of their most intense workouts of the season. "All during the last four games, I was concentrating on the playoffs," Silas said. "I was telling them how we have to prepare for the playoffs, and be ready." The Hornets have exploded out of the gate. Now, we all know that with four days to think about it, the Heat will come into Charlotte on Friday with their A game and their reservoir of heart and determination. And the Hornets haven't been able to stay hot for very long. This series could easily wind up back in Miami. But right now, Silas can't wait. "I knew if we played Miami, that Mash and P.J. were especially going to do their darndest to play well," Silas said. "Especially Mash. He wanted to beat them as bad, if not worse, than P.J. Mash was just totally focused. Sometimes, you don't know why everything clicks together, but it does. I've been on teams like that. Everyone starts falling in love with one another. I've never seen our bench so alive. Everyone is rooting for one another, and when a guy comes off the floor, they start rooting for the next guy." Kittles Around The League The Nets are cautiously optimistic that Kerry Kittles may return to action next season, after missing all of the 2000-01 campaign with a serious knee injury. He's scheduled to play for New Jersey's summer league team in Shaw's Pro League in Boston in July. "He practiced with us the last seven or eight days of the season," GM Rod Thorn said. "We're gonna play him in the summer league and and see what happens. We may not practice him twice a day, but he wants to play, and we want to see how he reacts to playing a regular schedule. He's worked real hard to try and get himself better." The Nets are not so optimistic that Jayson Williams could mount a real comeback from the various injuries that caused his retirement. Doctors have told the original JWill that he'll need knee replacement surgery in four or five years. Joe Brown, a 6-6 guard from Coppin State, may have played himself high into the second round of the draft with a terrific performance at last week's Black College All-Star game in Baltimore. In the wake of the Clippers' strong finish, I hear that the Clips may bring Alvin Gentry in this week to talk about a contract extension. And they should. If Mike Dunleavy survives somehow in Portland, would the Blazers bring in somebody like Lionel Hollins as an assistant coach next season -- and a potential heir apparent? Rumblings continue that Cleveland may be waiting for Dunleavy to be available so that the Cavs can offer him their head coaching job. Cavs have not contacted Del Harris, whom they interviewed for the head gig before giving it to Randy Wittman two years ago. Everyone is assuming that Doug Collins will bring his son Chris from the Duke University assistant pine to Washington next season, but don't be surprised if Doug Collins' first hire is another Duke assistant -- Johnny Dawkins. Dawkins obviously has NBA playing experience that Chris Collins doesn't, and since he's Mike Krzyzewski's top assistant, his departure would move Chris Collins up one seat in Durham. Sources say the Nuggets have narrowed their GM search to Portland assistant GM Mark Warkentien and Pacers GM David Kahn, who interviewed for New Jersey's post last season. The question remains, as Dan Issel meets with owner Stan Kroenke this week -- will Issel still have personnel power over whomever takes his GM job? Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories

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