Mourning Turns Up the Heat at Charlotte

So much for Southern hospitality. But then again, the guest was pretty rude.

For three seasons, Alonzo Mourning had been revered in Charlotte, but on Wednesday night he stood in the way of the Hornets getting a little closer to the playoffs.

Instead, at night’s end, the Miami Heat was a little closer to Charlotte.

The Hornets’ usual sellout crowd of 24,042 greeted Mourning with boos in his first visit to the Charlotte Coliseum since being traded to Miami at the beginning of the season, and he matched derision with points, scoring 26 and adding nine rebounds in a 116-95 Miami victory.

“All the boos just sparked me. I enjoyed every bit of it. I had a great time out there,” Mourning said after taking Miami to within half a game of Charlotte for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Mourning, booed every time he touched the ball, made his first six shots in helping the Heat break a four-game losing streak.

“You’ve got a lot of people that are really narrow-minded and don’t really look at the situation at hand,” he said. “I just put that behind me. The fans are going to be fans. That’s what they paid their money for--to come out and express themselves, express how they feel about the performance on the court. Sometimes it’s not fair. But, hey, I feel good.”

While Mourning was dominating inside, Tim Hardaway was making three of six three-point shots and scoring 29 points.

“This is probably as well as we have played since we have been together,” Miami Coach Pat Riley said.

The Hornets, who two nights ago snapped Chicago’s 44-game home winning streak, looked like they didn’t have much left for Miami. They were consistently out-hustled on defense, both inside and on the perimeter, and had 14 turnovers, which Miami converted into 25 points.

“We couldn’t get any rhythm,” Coach Allan Bristow said. “We just couldn’t overcome a lot of things, and then we had to play catch-up.”

Orlando 116, Cleveland 104--Shaquille O’Neal scored 39 points and the Magic snapped a rare two-game home losing streak.

O’Neal made 15 of 18 shots and was nine for 13 from the foul line in his first full game since leaving the team for five days because of the death of his grandmother.

Orlando’s Horace Grant was ejected for a punching foul after he and Danny Ferry became entangled under the Magic basket with 2:53 to play in the third quarter. They appeared to push one another before Grant shoved Ferry hard in the neck and face.

Utah 103, Phoenix 79--Karl Malone had 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Jazz, which won at Salt Lake City and sent Phoenix to its second loss in a row and third in four games.

Michael Finley had 15 points for the Suns, who shot only 38.5% and were outrebounded, 57-45. Kevin Johnson added 14 and Charles Barkley had 12 in 29 minutes.

San Antonio 105, Vancouver 82--Chuck Person led a balanced attack with 15 points as the Spurs virtually clinched their fifth division title with a rout of the Grizzlies at San Antonio.

The Spurs’ magic number to clinch the Midwest crown and the No. 2 playoff position in the Western Conference was reduced to one. A San Antonio victory or Utah loss will do the trick. Each has five games remaining.

Washington 122, Boston 108--Juwan Howard scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds at Boston to lead the Bullets, whose winning streak was extended to five games.

But Washington’s victory was marred when center Gheorghe Muresan, a strong candidate for the league’s most improved player award, injured the medial collateral ligament in his right knee 3:27 into the game and did not return.

Detroit 92, Philadelphia 76--Otis Thorpe had 24 points and a season-high 16 rebounds for the Pistons, who used a 13-0 third-quarter run to take charge of the victory over Philadelphia at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Seattle 108, Sacramento 89--Detlef Schrempf scored 20 points and Shawn Kemp had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the SuperSonics, who clinched a tie for the best record in the Western Conference with a victory at Seattle.

At 61-16, the SuperSonics have five games left in a bid for a franchise victory record. They were 63-19 two years ago.