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 Tuesday, October 10
Too early to tell on Mourning
 
By Mitch Lawrence
Special to ESPN.com

 CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Is Alonzo Mourning's mysterious kidney disorder linked to anti-inflammatory drugs?
 Alonzo Mourning
The Heat will be without Mourning for awhile, but nobody knows how long.

At this early stage, where the Miami Heat are still trying to determine what's wrong with their franchise talent, it would be unwise to jump to conclusions. Just as it's equally premature to think the Heat's championship hopes have been dashed. Why?

  • Until tests reveal exactly what Mourning has and what he faces, no one knows how much time he'll have to miss.

  • As long as the Lakers, Blazers and Spurs have something to say about it, Miami was probably not winning the title anyway, even with a healthy Alonzo Mourning. Even winning the sad-sack East is no lock for Pat Riley's Heat. And this doesn't change things.

    What is known is that Mourning, like Sean Elliott and a lot of other NBA players, has a history of taking anti-inflammatory medication to combat the wear and tear on his knees. One player who knows Mourning very well said the Heat's star frequently took the medication when he was a member of the Charlotte Hornets.

    For most players, the drugs do their job, allowing the players to remain on the court, endure the constant pounding, and maybe even prolong their careers. Taking the medicine is legal and the way business is done in the NBA, where there is always constant pressure to play and produce.

    For Elliott, we might have seen a worst-case scenario, something not even the most rabid Knick fan would even wish on Mourning.

    Elliott believes his kidney deteriorated to the point where he needed a transplant because he had taken anti-inflammatory medication for his own sore knees. He admitted that he regularly took the pills earlier in his career, without really thinking about the consequences.

    "I don't know for certain that it was the medicine, but it's something I suspect," Elliott said late last January, before making his historic comeback for the Spurs. "You figure you're helping yourself by taking the medication. You really don't think about possible side effects or what might happen down the road."

    Elliott
    Elliott

    Elliott said he would think twice now about taking the medication. And it's easy to see why. Forget basketball. He's very fortunate to be alive, having found a donor in his brother, Noel, when he was just days from having to go on dialysis.

    Again, at this early time, no one really knows what caused Mourning's disorder or what it means in the long term. Until the exact nature of the problem is diagnosed, why even speculate about how the Heat will use his salary-cap money to find a replacement? It's entirely too early for that.

    At this stage, friends and rivals alike are just hoping for the best.

    "We all hope they find the problem and deal with it," said Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy. "It's scary. Unbelievable."

    We all hope they find the problem and deal with it. It's scary. Unbelievable.
    Jeff Van Gundy

    Then Van Gundy's mind drifted back to last year's All-Star Game in San Francisco. Leaving the media interview session for practice, he suddenly found himself trapped inside a lethal bear hug. A few seconds later, his attacker loosened the grip so that Van Gundy could wiggle free. It was a smiling Alonzo Mourning.

    Then for the first time, Van Gundy and Mourning discussed what happened in Madison Square Garden in the 1998 playoffs. First round. Game 4. The final seconds.

    It started out with Mourning and ex-Charlotte teammate Larry Johnson swinging wildly at one another. It ended with the now-infamous shot of Van Gundy diving at Mourning's legs to break up the fight.

    Almost two years later, in the San Francisco ballroom, Van Gundy felt the need to apologize.

    "Don't worry about it," Mourning said.

    Then Mourning did something that surprised Van Gundy.

    "In a convoluted way, he told me that he actually admired what I had done," Van Gundy said. "He said, 'that's something coach Riley would do, go to the aid of one of his players.' "

    Riley had also been the central figure in a few celebrated Knicks' brawls, trying to act as peacemaker.

    "I told Mourning, 'Riley looked a lot better coming out of the Jo Jo English brawl (in Chicago in the '94 playoffs) than I looked coming of this one,' " Van Gundy said. "He liked that, too."

    Van Gundy chuckled, but then shook his head and said, almost to himself, "what's going on here?"

    The tragic headlines for the NBA started with Bobby Phills, father of two young children, drag-racing to his death after a Charlotte shootaround. At the start of the conference finals, Malik Sealy, a father and devoted husband himself, was killed when another driver went the wrong way up a freeway ramp one early morning in Minneapolis.

    Several weeks ago, Paul Pierce escaped serious injury as he was stabbed 11 times outside a Boston nightclub.

    "It seems like one thing after another, involving guys in the NBA," Van Gundy said.

    Now, it's Mourning.

    "When I was with the Bulls and we had those games with the Heat," Knicks center Luc Longley said, "he'd be out there, waving his arms and playing borderline out of control, he plays so hard. We knew we could always get to him by beating his team. But he always battled for 48 minutes."

    Few play harder, whether it's a playoff game or a laid-back All-Star practice.

    "No one really parallels him," Longley said. "He's not going to beat you with finesse. It's just physical, aggressive play."

    So like everyone else, Longley couldn't believe the news out of Miami. He had just competed against Mourning in the Olympics in Sydney.

    "He certainly looks like a healthy specimen from the outside," Longley said. "That just goes to show you, there's a lot more to it than appearances."

    Indeed, there might be much more.

    Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.

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