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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
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Wednesday, May 30
'Zo will listen to doctors when deciding future
Associated Press
MIAMI To coax his diseased kidneys into shape for next
season, Alonzo Mourning plans an offseason regimen that includes
rigorous workouts, daily therapy and a strict menu.
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| Mourning |
"Beet juice, parsley, carrots and a little celery," he said.
Submitting to such a diet shows how badly Mourning wants to play
next season, but no one knows whether it will be possible.
The Miami Heat center was diagnosed with focal
glomerulosclerosis last October, missed the first 69 games of the
season and returned for the final 16, including a humbling
first-round playoff sweep by the Charlotte Hornets.
The disease is in remission, but Mourning could eventually
require a kidney transplant. Doctors will decide late this summer
whether he's healthy enough to suit up for the start of the 2001-02
season.
"If they tell me I can't come back, I'll listen to them,"
Mourning said Monday. "My body might be like, `Hey, I can't do it
anymore.' Until then, you're going to hear from me that I will be
back."
Coach Pat Riley said he'll make offseason personnel decisions
with the assumption Mourning can play next season.
"He's more or less in the hands of God with his medication and
how he feels," Riley said. "It puts a cloud over him and puts a
cloud over the team too. We just have to deal with it."
Even if Mourning plays next season, it may be unrealistic to
expect he can regain his All-Star form. His minutes were limited
after he returned in March, and he looked lethargic against the
Hornets.
"I might have come back too soon," he said. "I wanted to be
the same old Zo, and I wasn't. I was far from it."
The Heat went 42-27 without Mourning. They were just 8-8 after
his return.
"It was a great thing to have him come back," point guard Tim
Hardaway said. "But I think everybody was worried about his health
instead of worrying about Zo as a player. That probably hurt us and
hurt him and hurt the coaching staff. We wanted to make sure he was
all right instead of playing. That's how I feel as a friend. I was
scared for him, to tell you the truth."
Mourning was taking 14 pills a day, but the disease prohibited
him from using routine anti-inflammatory medication to ease
soreness. That made the comeback more taxing, and compounds the
challenge of returning for an 82-game season.
But three days after the Heat were eliminated by Charlotte,
Mourning was surprisingly chipper and optimistic about his
uncertain future.
"Just sitting around the past couple of days doesn't feel
right," he said. "I've got to do something. I've got to jump up
and down. My wife says, `Just rest.' I say, `I'm going to have
plenty of time to do that later.'
"I'm a 31-year-young man I don't like to say `old.' I still
have a lot to offer. It's a matter of training my body back to that
stage where I feel confident in it."
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ALSO SEE
Riley says he deserves more heat from Miami's failures
AUDIO/VIDEO
Alonzo Mourning believes he may have come back too early. wav: 214 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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