Hornets guard Baron Davis may have been on song offensively in the last two games - ironically both Hornets wins - but Heat coach Stan Van Gundy is sticking by his guns and says he doesn't plan to change how the team defends Davis.

"He's a point guard; you're not going to limit his touches," Van Gundy said. "I think we've done a pretty good job on him, contrary to what you guys may think. Look at his numbers and what he normally does during the regular season. Look at his numbers now, and we've done a decent job."

With neither team winning on the road during the playoffs and the series moving back to Miami, Hornets point guard Darrell Armstrong expects to see more physical play from the Miami Heat in Game 5.

Armstrong is also hopeful that his New Orlean's teammates can match the intensity, making for a fierce battle in a game which could make or break a team's playoff ambitions.

"Guys are going to be battling trying to get rebounds and block shots, and some are going to be diving on the floor for loose balls and getting in front of people to force (offensive) charging fouls," Armstrong said. "I just hope most of it comes from us."

As quickly as Lamar Odom was able to get his game going against New Orleans, the Hornets were able to nutrelize him.

With Game 3 getting tighter in the fourth quarter and Odom starting to dominate, the Heat's key forward was forced from the court with a bloodied and swolen eye after being the recipient of an inadvertant elbow from star Hornet Baron Davis.  Odom would miss five minutes of action and receive six stitches for his trouble before returning, but would be relatively unaffective with his limited vision.

''I was feeling great, and to go out with that type of injury [after] I had just hit a shot and gotten my team back in the game,'' Odom said, shaking his head.

``I was ready to stay out there.''

''I was mad,'' said Odom. ``. . . I was frustrated because I started to feel myself getting in a rhythm, my team was starting to feel it, Caron Butler was playing awesome, then I have to come in here and get stitches in my face. I wasn't too pleased about that. But it's part of the game. It happens.''

The Heat knew the New Orleans Hornets would try to win Saturday's Game 3 in bar-fight fashion, wrote the Miami Herald's Israel Gutierrez, but not even they were expecting this.  The Hornet's defense halted the Heat in their tracks in the first half as New Orleans opened up a double digit lead before holding on.  The Heat shot a franchise playoff low 32.9 percent from the field, led by  a 3-for-21 effort of their starting backcourt of Eddie Jones and Dwayne Wade, while injured Hornets star Baron Davis controlled proceedings.

''It was that and then some,'' said Caron Butler. ``They shocked us.''

''I thought our mind-set to start the game was a major problem,'' Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. ``We tried to prepare them for three days on how hard somebody would come at you at home down 2-0, but we seemed very surprised by the fact that they were up and into us and very physical.''

As the old clich? goes defense wins championships, and if the clinic that the Heat put on against the lethargic New Orleans Hornets is anything to go by Miami are certainly on the right path.

As Israel Gutierrez of the Miami Herald puts it the Heat 'demoralizing a suddenly aging New Orleans team with consistent defense, aggressive offense and major contributions from all five starters.'

The outcome?  Try a 30 point win and more importantly a 2-0 lead in the best of seven series.

It's the first time the Heat has taken a 2-0 lead in a best-of-7 series. This is the Heat's fourth seven-game series in its 16 years.

''It's a confidence boost knowing how we did it,'' said Eddie Jones.

``The only thing we did spectacular was play great defense. We knew Game 1 that we didn't play the kind of basketball we wanted to play. We didn't move the ball, we had a lot of turnovers and just didn't make good decisions.''

LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers will receive the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy as the 2003-04 got milk? Rookie of the Year, the NBA announced today.

James received a total of 508 points, including 78 first-place votes out of a possible 118, from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada.  Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received.  Denver?s Carmelo Anthony finished a close second with 430 points and Miami?s Dwyane Wade was third with 117 points.

The first overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, James was in the top five among rookies in all major statistical categories.  He led all rookies in steals (1.65 spg), was second in scoring (20.9 ppg), third in assists (5.9 apg) and fifth in rebounding (5.5 rpg).  James joins NBA legends Oscar Robertson and Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history to average more than 20 points, five rebounds and five assists per game in their rookie season.  

James is the only player in Cleveland Cavaliers history to be named the got milk? Rookie of the Year and is the youngest player in NBA history to capture the honor.  James will be presented the award live on TNT during halftime of the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets playoff game on Tuesday, April 20.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Cavaliers guard LeBron James will be honored as the NBA's Rookie of the Year at that media gathering. The suspense was taken out of the ordeal last weekend when the Associated Press broke the story that the Eddie Gottlieb trophy was earmarked to James.

''It would be exciting if I won that award,'' James said last week.

James supposedly received considerably more votes than Denver forward Carmelo Anthony, who guided the Nuggets to the playoffs and outscored the Cleveland rookie. Anthony was the league's top rookie scorer at 21.0, while James was second at 20.9.

''I know (Anthony) wants it and I know I want it,'' James said.

Cavaliers coach Paul Silas said last week that he expected James to win the award.

''If you look at his production, it speaks for itself,'' he said. ''The other guys, Carmelo and (Miami guard Dwyane) Wade are terrific players, but they are not the athlete that he is. He deserves to be Rookie of the Year.''

Miami coach Stan Van Gundy said because the Heat qualified for the playoffs, Wade should be a front-runner for the award (he will likely finish third in the voting).

''If this thing had continued and we were in the playoffs, it would have been hands down,'' Silas said. ''He's had a positive effect on our ball club. We've had the third biggest turnaround in the league (plus-16 victories), and he's partly responsible for that.

''He's really had a sensational year.''

If the Magic believe that they can lure soon-to-be Boston Celtics center Mark Blount to Orlando with warm weather, then they might have a problem competing with the Miami Heat, who are also are interested in Blount, for his services.

Not only does Miami have warmer weather but they are also closer to Blount's offseason residence in Boca Raton.

"I just love the warm weather there in the summertime," he said.

Blount and the rest of the NBA's free agents can start talking to teams on July 1 and can formally sign contracts on July 14.

The Miami Heat's return to the postseason proved a success in dramatic fashion Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena, and the team's hero was a player making his debut on this biggest of stages.

Dwyane Wade, Miami's rookie guard, hit a driving shot with 1.3 seconds left to give the Heat an 81-79 victory over the New Orleans Hornets, giving the Heat a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The Heat, playing timidly and looking disjointed in the first half, roared to life in the third quarter to quickly turn a 44-41 halftime deficit into a seven-point lead heading into the final period.

The MVP of the Heat's season is former point guard Anthony Carter.

Never has a player paid such a heavy price for the betterment of his team.

If not for Carter's blunder at last June's contract deadline, the Heat would not have been a high-end player in last summer's free agency, would not have had the financial wherewithal to add Odom, the catalyst for all things good this season.

If not for Carter putting his faith in his agent to invoke his contract option, and if not for Bill Duffy's office failing to do so, the Heat's presence on last summer's free-agent market would have been inconsequential.

If not for that $4.1 million mistake, Samaki Walker, and not Odom, well could have been the Heat's starting power forward.

If not for the NBA insisting a missed deadline is a missed deadline (unlike the NFL's conciliatory approach with Terrell Owens), the Heat likely would be talking lottery today and almost certainly would not have realized the joys of having Alston in its rotation at point guard.