The Miami Heat announced today that they have activated Qyntel Woods from the injured list and placed Rasual Butler on the injured list with right knee patella tendinitis.

Woods was signed by the Heat as a free agent on January 26th and placed on the injured list on February 5th  with right knee patella tendinitis. He was waived by the Portland Trail Blazers on January 21, 2005 and has yet to play a game this season for Portland or Miami. In 62 games (eight starts) with the Trail Blazers last season, he averaged 3.6 points and 2.2 rebounds in 10.9 minutes per game.

Butler has appeared in 61 games for the Heat so far this season, averaging 6.1 points and 2.2 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game.

Now with the Miami Heat, center Alonzo Mourning says he is sorry if Toronto fans feel ?duped? over him not playing for the Raptors after being sent there as part the Vince Carter trade with the New Jersey Nets.

?I knew I wasn't going to win in Toronto,? Mourning said.

"I apologize," Mourning said in his first public discussion of the Dec. 17 trade which made him a Raptor ? at least theoretically?and sent Vince Carter to New Jersey. "That was my main purpose of not stepping foot in Toronto at all, not to raise anyone's hopes or anything like that.

Mourning is adamant that the Toronto staff was made aware by the New Jersey execs that there was a good chance Mourning would not report to the club.

"I'm 35 years old and I've been a part of rebuilding teams and considering my health situation, I didn't want to be in a situation where I was going to waste my time out on the court," Mourning said.

"I want a reward for my efforts and I'm not saying Toronto didn't have the talent to get into the playoffs, especially if I had come there to contribute but it's not about getting into the playoffs for me any more. I'm at a stage in my career where I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to do this so if I do it, I want to do it on a level where I can see a reward at the end of it."

Just one night after defeating the Phoenix Suns, the Miami Heat went up to Charlotte and were defeated by expansion Bobcats by a final score of 94-92.

Primoz Brezec was dominant, scoring 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.  Gerald Wallace chipped in 17, while Rookie of the Year candidate Emeka Okafor had 17 points.

Shaquille O'Neal was his usual solid self, scoring 26 points with 16 rebounds.

Charlotte went up big at the half, outscoring the Heat 27-13 in the 2nd quarter.

Arguably two of the most exciting teams in the NBA, the #1 team in the West, the Phoenix Suns and he #1 team in the East, the Miami Heat, are set to square off against each other tonight in a possible NBA championship preview.

"It'll be two different styles and we'll see who has the will to continue it for 48 minutes," said Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, whose team could sweep for a tiebreaker that would come into play if the teams tie for the best overall record and meet in the Finals. " . . . This is the game we've waited for."

"You can't adapt to their style," Wade said. "We can run with any team in the league, but we're not going to try to run with Phoenix. We'll run at times and use our big fella for what he's for. We're better equipped to handle it. Guys have to be more aggressive shooting when they put two guys on Shaq."

The game is set to start at 6 p.m. in Phoenix and will be aired on ESPN.

Tracy McGrady scored 26 points and 4 important steals and the Houston Rockets ended the Miami Heat's 12-game winning streak with an 84-82 victory Tuesday night.

Shaquille O'Neal dominated Yao Ming down low, scoring 23 points and grabbing 16 rebounds, compared to the Houston center's 12 points and 9 rebounds.  Dikembe Mutombo played as many minutes as Yao and was more effective, grabbing 15 rebounds.

The Miami Heat announced today that they have activated Wang Zhi-Zhi from the injured list and placed Christian Laettner on the injured list with right foot plantar fasciitis.

Zhi-Zhi has appeared in 17 games for the HEAT so far this season, averaging 2.2 points in 4.2 minutes per game. He was placed on the injured list on March 7th with an upper respiratory infection and missed six games.

Laettner has appeared in 44 games for the HEAT so far this season, averaging 5.3 points and 2.7 rebounds in 15.2 minutes per game. He spent nine games on the injured list earlier this season with left foot plantar fasciitis.

Another week is in the books and RealGM has a new team at the top of their rankings.

Here is how the top 5 teams in the NBA looked this week.

1. Miami Heat- Another flawless week makes the top position easily theirs. Only Wade?s clutch shot at MSG can compete with the joy on Shaq?s face after sweeping the season series from the Lakers.
2. Phoenix Suns- Losing to the Warriors at home is inexcusable, but they recovered nicely with an impressive win at Memphis.
3. San Antonio Spurs- The Spurs chances of attaining homecourt advantage might have gone down with Tim Duncan on Sunday.
4. Detroit Pistons- Beginning to close in on their playoff form of last season, with a perfect week. They will need to be every bit as good as they were last season to beat Miami in a 7-game series with only 3 of 7 at the Palace.
5. Seattle SuperSonics- Exhibit A for why they could have traded Ray Allen for some frontcourt help...Flip Murray?s impromptu 25 points at L.A. on Sunday.

Visit RealGM's Team Rankings for the full list.

In the race to make the playoffs and avoid the dreaded 8th seed and a date with Miami, the middle teams of the East are looking for that magic end-of-the-season run.

The New Jersey Nets have seemingly gone through many seasons in this 2004-05 campaign. So many lineups, so many players, so many injuries, and so much inconsistency. Yet, on the heels of a 3-game winning streak, and with the inconsistency of the teams around them, they are very much in the playoff hunt. For me, making the playoffs as the eight seed is pointless. You might as well load up for the lottery instead of being the sacrificial lamb for the Heat. However, there is a good chance of getting even as high as the sixth seed right now.

The Nets sit 4 games back of the sixth seed Indianapolis Pacers. Coincidently, the Nets have a home-and-home with the Pacers starting in Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon and finishing up in Jersey on Tuesday night. They will play one more in Indianapolis in late April. The Pacers continue to give Rick Carlisle the effort but without Artest or O?neal, and with the urgency of the games for New Jersey, the Nets need to take care of business if they are serious and poised for the playoffs.

The Nets are 3.5 games back of the seventh seed Chicago Bulls. New Jersey swept the season series 4-0, so there is not much more that they can do themselves to gain ground on the Bulls. The Bulls are quite young, however, and might just slip up themselves.

Shaquille O'Neal once again got the better of Kobe Bryant on Thursday night, sweeping the season series.

Helping out O'Neal was Dwyane Wade who scored 27 points, O'Neal himself had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Keyon Dooling scored eight of his season-high 17 points in the fourth quarter to help the Miami Heat beat the Lakers 102-89 Thursday night.

The win extended the Heat's winning streak to 11 games.

Bryant had 21 points in the first half but missed his first nine shots after halftime and finished with 26 points on 8-for-23 shooting.

Tonight the surging Miami Heat will face off against the mediocre Los Angeles Lakers pitting ex-Laker Shaquille O?Neal and Kobe Bryant head-to-head for the second time since Shaq left for Miami.  While it is well known the two did not see eye-to-eye on many issues while in LA, they are agreeing on one thing regarding tonight?s match-up.

"It's just another game," O'Neal said.

And from Bryant: "It's just another game."

That being said, the fans may not get that TNT ?we know drama? style basketball game they are looking for.

"I don't know what you guys expect from us," O'Neal said. "You probably expect us to get into a fight on the court, but that probably won't ever happen."

'Probably' being the operative word.