Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports:When Tim Hardaway walks on the AmericanAirlines Arena floor tonight, the memories will come flooding back.

``It's going to be very emotional, a very strange feeling,'' Hardaway said of his return to Miami as a member of the Dallas Mavericks. ``This was a building that Alonzo Mourning, myself, Jamal Mashburn, P.J. Brown and Dan Majerle built by winning all those games and getting fans excited.''

Hardaway expects a warm reception because he didn't leave by his own choosing. Miami didn't offer him a contract because of his age and history of injuries.

Coach Pat Riley also believed the franchise needed to move in a new direction, though he ultimately reversed course on the youth movement.

Hardaway, 35, lashed out at Riley in a phone interview last week, blaming him for not ``letting players be themselves,'' for offering him only incentive-laden contracts, for speaking too harshly to players, for creating an unhappy atmosphere and for not calling him this summer to explain the decision to part ways.

But Hardaway's bitterness toward his ex-coach doesn't negate all the good memories.

``I miss so much about Miami -- my house, my friends, the people, the weather, the team, playing with friends,'' he said. ``I liked it in Golden State, too, but we won more in Miami, I had more fun in Miami. I grew to love the fans there.

``The only thing I'm bitter about is I didn't get compensated fairly for what I did. You talk about loyalty -- I was loyal to the end. I always worked hard.''