MIAMI – All-Star center Alonzo Mourning returned Tuesday to
play with the Miami Heat, coming back from a kidney ailment that
had sidelined him this season and once threatened his career.
Mourning was added to the lineup for the game against the
visiting Toronto Raptors and hopes to help the Heat as they head
toward the playoffs next month.
Mourning had nine points and six rebounds in 19 minutes as the
Heat lost to the Raptors 101-92.
The two-time defensive player of the year, Mourning entered the
game with 3:43 to play in the first quarter and the Heat trailing
17-14. Mourning jumped off the bench, threw off his warmup jersey
and sprinted to the scorer's table to replace Brian Grant, who left
with two fouls.
The near-sellout crowd gave Mourning a long standing ovation. He
responded immediately with a defensive stop, forcing Antonio Davis
to turn the ball over on the ensuing possession.
Mourning got the ball on the other end but missed his first
shot, which came on his trademark hard drive across the lane.
Mourning, who started practicing with the team several weeks
ago, decided to play after doctors told him his condition might not
change for a year. He said he will be monitored closely and his
return will be on a game-to-game basis.
David Falk, his agent, stressed that Mourning is not cured, but
his disease is in remission.
"I am pleased finally to come to this day," Mourning said at a
news conference at the Heat's arena. "The most difficult thing in
all of this is that the doctors can't give me assurances about my
future.
"Every time I step out on the court I am afraid. I'm human."
Heat coach Pat Riley said he was surprised Tuesday when told
Mourning could return this season but always believed he would come
back eventually.
Riley said Mourning "has raised the level of his competition"
in recent days, but he will not play many minutes in his first
games.
"The journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step," Riley
said.
Coincidentally, Hakeem Olajuwon was added to Houston's lineup
for Tuesday night's game against Utah just two weeks after
announcing he would be sidelined for up to six months because of a
blood clot in his leg.
The 38-year-old center was cleared to play after further tests
revealed his condition had improved.
Mourning's return bolsters the Heat's playoff chances. The team
is 42-28 with 12 games left in the regular season and is in third
place in the Atlantic Division, 7 games behind Philadelphia.
Earlier this month, Riley said he would put the 6-foot-10
Mourning on the Heat's playoff roster in case he could play.
The 31-year-old Mourning, a six-time All Star, had been
sidelined since being diagnosed in October with focal
glomerulosclerosis, an illness that leads to kidney failure in
about half the cases. If Mourning's kidneys fail, he would need
dialysis or a transplant.
Mourning has been taking up to 11 pills a day to treat his
kidneys and control his blood pressure and cholesterol. He also is
following a strict low-sodium diet. He last played Oct. 1 in the
U.S. Olympic team's gold-medal victory over France.
San Antonio's Sean Elliott, who had the same kidney disease, was
not surprised by Mourning's return.
"I figured he could do it," Elliott said before the Spurs'
home game against the Charlotte Hornets. "I think he just probably
had to get through a lot of the year and his body had to kind of
adjust to what was going on with it. Once that all happened, I was
pretty sure that he'd be able to take the court."
Mourning finished third in voting for the NBA's most valuable
player award last season, averaging 21.1 points, 9.5 rebounds and
3.7 blocks a game, and was second in the MVP voting in 1998-99. The
fans voted him to be the Eastern Conference starting center in last
month's All-Star game even though he had said he would not play
this season.
Mourning said his goal was to help the team win a championship.
"Whatever it takes," he said. "My teammates have done a
tremendous job."
Focal glomerulosclerosis, a relatively rare disease, attacks the
tiny filters in the kidney that remove waste from the blood.
Symptoms can include swelling in the legs, as in Mourning's case,
and high rates of protein in the urine and high cholesterol.
The Heat acquired Mourning in November 1995 from the Charlotte
Hornets, who drafted him No. 2 overall out of Georgetown in 1992.
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