This season is not even over and already players are starting to jockey for their future destinations.  Chicago's Travis Best, brought over from Indiana in the Jalen Rose trade, said he's interested in signing with the Heat as a free agent this summer if Miami doesn't retain Rod Strickland.

''Miami was trying to make a deal with Indiana to get me [last summer], and Indiana wouldn't give me up,'' Best told The Chicago Sun-Times. ``It's definitely an interesting situation and one that I'll look at. They have one of the best coaches in the league in Pat Riley, and they're a team I feel can definitely go somewhere next year, especially if you have somebody come in and help defensively and run the team.''

``It definitely would be a good situation for me. Strickland's been playing well, but I don't know what's going to happen.''

Strickland, while older than Best, has had a better season this year and would most likely come cheaper to the luxury-lax laden Heat.  There are also questions over whether Best can be a starting caliber point guard on a good team.

Best and Strickland, along with Jeff McInnis of the Los Angeles Clippers, are considered the best of the unrestricted free agent point guards this off season.

Within a basketball context, the misery that has befallen Pat Riley in Miami is almost biblical, absent only the locusts and plague.

If Allan Houston doesn't get a bounce . . .

If Clarence Weatherspoon does . . .

Then maybe Jamal Mashburn and P.J. Brown are never traded from a team that was better than any in the Eastern Conference right now and . . .

Ifs and maybes, they are what losers cling to in the absence of anything else. There are a million things that could have dramatically altered the unstable place where this Miami franchise stands today, everything from the health of a kidney (Alonzo Mourning's) to the decision of a 21-year-old (his name is Tracy McGrady) to one bleeping bounce against the Knicks, but here's where we are instead:

With Riley much further from the NBA's throne than he has ever been in two decades of coaching.

And with no map on how to get this lost franchise back near there, either.

Miami's calamity of a season died a little more with another loss Monday, and it rests on life support now, only the overly optimistic or stupid among us believing this team has or deserves a postseason. More damning is that this rickety franchise is rather suddenly adrift, as the Celtics revealed again Monday. Boston kept coming at Miami with players who have a future while Miami could not counter because it was armed only with players who have a past.

Boston has two stars, Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce, better than any one that Miami has, and those two won the fourth quarter, the only one that matters in the NBA. Miami's Eddie Jones? He showed for only the first three quarters, as is his tendency a little too often for a player with his paycheck. Jones appears to have the talent but not the temperament to be a good team's best player, capable of carrying a piece of the load but not the whole thing, so Miami must settle for him being the best player on a 31-38 team instead. Jones had 19 points at the end of the third quarter Monday, which is good. He still had 19 points at the end of the fourth quarter, which is not.

Miami kept swinging panicked double teams at Walker and Pierce every time they cleared out one side of the floor, and that left former Florida Marlins minor-leaguer Erick Strickland (game-high 23 points) with the kind of absurdly open shots you don't get in today's NBA unless Shaq and Kobe are your teammates. Never mind the combined 11 for 31 shooting of Walker and Pierce. They controlled the game when it needed to be controlled, which is why Shaq calls Pierce ``the [expletive] truth.''

''We took their scorers out,'' Jones said. ``Their scorers got nowhere near their average.''

So that's what passes for victory in Miami now?

Losing but holding the other team's scorers below their average?

Once upon a time, against this Boston team, Mourning would have been the glowing nuclear epicenter around which everything in this game revolved, but his body has betrayed him in ways that aren't obvious to the eye. He had what you would consider a very nice game for just about anybody Monday (20 points, 10 rebounds, two blocked shots) until you place it against what he used to do against when he was perfectly healthy.

In 1995, Mourning averaged 33 points against the Celtics. In 1996, he had one game in which he scored 45 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked seven shots against the Celtics. His career highs for assists (seven) and blocks (nine) have come against the Celtics, as have his career highs for field goals made (19) and attempted (34). It is not a coincidence the Celtics didn't pass Miami in the standings until Pierce and Walker rose while Mourning's health forced him to drop.

Riley's blueprint has been short-circuited by things like that, the timing bordering on cruel. Tim Hardaway carried this franchise when Mourning wasn't quite yet ready but broke down as soon as Mourning had matured enough to join him. Get a bounce against the Knicks, and maybe Riley never deals Mashburn and Brown and signs Jones and Brian Grant, making his team worse (and far more expensive) even as he made Charlotte better.

These things happen, though. The teams Miami is chasing (was chasing?) for that final playoff spot have all suffered the equivalent of what Miami has with Mourning this year, Charlotte losing Mashburn to injury for months, Philadelphia losing Allen Iverson and the Pacers trading Jalen Rose.

So now Miami is old and unathletic and the only team in the NBA without a starter under 30. Miami's veterans are formed, too, which is not a good thing, not at 31-38. With the exception of perhaps Eddie House, there isn't a player on this team who is going to get any better.

And without players who are going to get better, how is the team going to do so?

Heat coach Pat Riley wasn't bluffing. Insisting something had to be done about his team's ragged starts, Riley shook up his starting lineup Monday.

Out at small forward was Kendall Gill, who had started the previous 33 games. In for the opening tip against the Celtics at AmericanAirlines Arena was Jim Jackson, who had started 17 games earlier in the season.

It was the first time Riley had altered his starting lineup for any reason other than injury since Jan. 15, the date Gill replaced Jackson for a road victory against the Lakers.

"It's concerning to me why we can't come out and muster up the intensity and attitude that we need to jump on somebody, not depend on me having to search for something to get it going," Riley said.

With Gill starting alongside center Alonzo Mourning, power forward Brian Grant and guards Eddie Jones and Rod Strickland, the Heat had gone 21-10.

The Heat went into Monday's game 6-11 when starting Jackson alongside Mourning, Grant, Jones and Strickland.

The Heat blew out to a 14-4 lead against the Celtics and led 21-14 after the opening period, the first time in four games it took a lead into the second quarter. It had been outscored in the first quarter of its previous three games by an average of 23-17.

Considering the Heat has only 13 games remaining, it seemed an unlikely time for a lineup shuffle. Riley, however, said he had no choice.

"It hasn't been a problem until the last week," he said. "We've got to get our starters thinking the right way. There's a huge difference between playing and coming to really fight for something."

Gill had been a marginal starter in recent games. Entering Monday's game, he had not played more than 17 minutes in any of the previous four games, used for only 11 minutes in Saturday's loss in San Antonio.

With Jackson in the starting lineup, Riley was able to use LaPhonso Ellis as his first perimeter reserve off the bench. Ellis had played only eight minutes in the previous four games since returning from the injured list.

First of all, I'd like to thank the Academy. What's that? The Oscars are over? I don't want to say they were too long, but when Canadian figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier came up to accept their honorary awards you knew things were getting ridiculous. I've seen World Series games move at a brisker pace.

But all things do eventually reach their end, and so it is here. This is my last sports column for the Sun-Sentinel. But hold those cartwheels and fireworks. To paraphrase new Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria: I'm not going anywhere, except one section forward. Fresh challenges await me as a Broward metro columnist in the Local section. Believe it or not, I'm trading in fun and games for the real world.

Some people think I'm crazy. Some friends, who make a lot more than I do, say they'd do anything to have my job. But you reach a point where all the games and seasons blur, where you've covered all the Olympics and Super Bowls you care to, where the thought of another trip to Buffalo or Foxboro to chronicle the latest Dolphins swoon becomes -- blasphemous to say -- boring. Then you know it's time.

In order to keep your fastball, sometimes you have to throw yourself a curve. I'm lucky. I get to change jobs without calling Mayflower, get to leave my comfort zone without giving up my January tan, and I get to write about a wacky place that has, after 13 years, become home.

What I'll miss, and what I won't, about being a sports writer ...

I'll miss April days in Augusta. My idea of heaven: Monday before the Masters, no column to write, re-enter Augusta National's pearly gates, walk down to Amen Corner, see if the azaleas are blooming, meander back to the clubhouse, catch up with old friends under the big oak tree, sip a vodka-and-lemonade on the veranda at sunset. I won't miss the gold-plated signs in parts of the clubhouse, enforced the other 51 weeks a year, that say "Gentlemen Only."

I'll miss fall Saturdays in Tallahassee and Gainesville. I'll miss the pregame routines, the burning spear thrown into the ground and the video of alligators slithering out of the swamp. I'll miss Bobby Bowden and his dadgummits and I'll miss the loud, sweaty atmosphere of Florida's open-air press box. I won't miss the 5 a.m. wake-up calls the next morning if I'm supposed to make it to a Dolphins game.

I'll miss the Hurricanes swaggering through the smoke at the Orange Bowl. I won't miss wondering what just dripped on me as I walked underneath the Orange Bowl.

I'll miss getting to watch Tiger Woods inside the ropes. I won't miss listening to him in the interview room.

I'll miss World Series games at Yankee Stadium. I won't miss getting to Yankee Stadium.

I'll miss Kevin Millar and Cliff Floyd in the clubhouse before Marlins games. I won't miss the never-ending move/fold/stadium watch surrounding the Marlins (and sorry, but I'll still have to write about these things in news).

I'll miss Zach Thomas riffing on just about everything after a Dolphins game. I won't miss waiting around an empty locker room for an hour during the team's alleged "media availability" on practice days.

I'll miss the Debbie Black-and-blue bandages posted at Sol games, for every time the scrappy point guard hit the floor. I won't miss the $20 parking at Heat games (yeah, I got reimbursed, but it's the principle).

I'll miss Pat Riley and his endless ability to fascinate and fill up a notebook. I won't miss his team's playoff flops.

I'll miss surprise teams going on dream runs, like the 1996 Panthers. I won't miss dog teams going nowhere, like the recent Panther editions.

I'll miss being at Churchill Downs the first week in May, up at dawn for the Derby workouts, done writing before the early double. I won't miss the Loverboy concerts at Gulfstream.

I'll miss Marriott points. I won't miss sharing a room with a snoring colleague for three weeks at the Salt Lake Shilo Inn (yes, Hyde, that means you).

I'll miss the Chik-Fil-A across from Gate A19 at Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta. I won't miss doing the Delta dash at Hartsfield, 10 minutes until your connecting flight two terminals away! Good luck and have a nice heart attack!

I'll miss 1 p.m. NFL kickoffs, 12:30 p.m. NBA tipoffs, and all the other games I can actually watch. I won't miss Monday Night Football, the NBA Finals or any other event that begins after 9 p.m. or ends after midnight.

I'll miss the adrenaline rush of being up against it at a big game. I won't miss pounding out five different leads in a span of 10 minutes, head buried in my laptop, only to look up when the crowd goes wild 20 seconds before deadline and yelp, "What just happened?" And then all us poor writers stare blankly and helplessly at the televisions overhead, waiting for the replay like the experts we are.

It's been a fun run.

After showing the heart of a true fighter to come back from their horrific start to the season, the Miami Heat seem to have fallen back into old habits.  The Heat, who lost to Boston last night despite holding both Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce to under 20 points, have now lost three straight and its fifth and seven games.

''I still believe in them,'' Heat coach Pat Riley said. ``It's a daunting, daunting task. You don't ever, ever, ever, count yourself out until the numbers say you're out. It's just going to get more and more difficult.''

The Heat fell to eleventh in the East, four games behind #8 Indiana and five behind #7 Charlotte.

During negotiations to re-sign Bowen, Riley called him the league's lowest-rated starting small forward in offense, and said his skills ? energy, athleticism, leadership and defense ? could be "found and taught."

"It's a business, and I understand that," Bowen said. "Five years, I might still be complaining to (the media). But if I'm complaining about not being there, what would the Spurs think? They'd be like, 'Damn, Bruce, do you want to be here? You're still talking about something in the past? Move on.'"

Bowen has moved on, and Saturday night he showed Riley just how far during the Spurs' 89-79 win at the Alamodome.

It really didn't hit us until after the Dallas game," David Robinson said. "That's when we thought, 'You know, we've actually been playing good basketball for a while now.'"

Now that the Spurs have finally recognized the depth of their success ? "It really doesn't feel like we've won 12 in a row," Antonio Daniels said ? continuing their run figures to get a lot tougher when they begin a four-game West Coast trip that could be part playoff tuneup, part scouting mission.

The Spurs could end up playing any of their next three opponents ? the Clippers (tonight), Portland (Wednesday) or Seattle (Friday) ? in the first round of the playoffs. Concluding their Best of the West swing is an NBC-televised date with the Lakers on Sunday.

The trip, which covers eight days and matches their longest sojourn of the season, should test the Spurs' endurance. Which is one reason why they're hoping Steve Smith, who has missed the past four games with a sprained right ankle, will be able to play tonight or Wednesday. Terry Porter is not expected to play tonight after straining his right calf Saturday.

MIAMI -- The Miami Heat have been bitten by the health bug, and it's causing all kinds of problems.

With LaPhonso Ellis, Chris Gatling, Vladimir Stepania, Anthony Carter and Eddie House all healthy and providing Miami with varying skills, Pat Riley now can play five guys off his bench.

The problem is, the Heat coach prefers to play just eight.

"It's getting a little bit difficult right now with the rotation because I've got 10 guys that have played and have been playing, and now everybody's healthy," Riley said. "So we just have to pick and choose, and they have to understand that."

Riley had been using Carter as a reserve for Rod Strickland, but House's 20-point game against Philadelphia on Wednesday showed Riley just how big of an asset House's shooting ability can be.

"He's a threat," Riley said of House, who was the first point guard off the bench against the Pacers on Friday. "I love Eddie. He's got a lot of fire and a lot of guts. Sometimes he has too much. I think eventually he's going to really break through here. But it's just more and more experience."

Riley, however, is not prepared to give up on Carter, who provides Miami with the ball-handling skills and defense that House still lacks.

"A.C.'s tough and defensive oriented and somebody who can really push and brings a lot of energy," Riley said. "I have an idea who I'm going to play right now, the first eight guys, but it could change throughout the course of the game."

Ellis, who played Friday for the first time since suffering a groin injury February 27, will have trouble finding as many minutes because of Gatling's play as of late.

"Gat right now is scoring for us," Riley said. "I think probably other than (Alonzo Mourning), Gat is without a doubt our best inside scorer . . . and he's starting to shoot the ball a little bit better."

So maybe Miami is not competing with just Charlotte and Indiana for a playoff spot.

Michael Jordan was activated Wednesday for the Wizards' game in Denver. And given that Miami and Washington entered Wednesday five games under.500, the Wizards are as much in the race as the Heat.

Jordan's return from a knee injury makes the Wizards a much more legitimate contender.

"I think he probably always had an intention of coming back," Heat coach Pat Riley said of Jordan. "I think everybody is thinking for him and wishing for him, and what he should do for him. He got hurt, had a scope and when he feels strong he's going to come back to play. That's why he's here. And they still have a shot.

"I don't think he wants to waste this year by sitting on the sideline and not giving his team a shot to make the playoffs."

Jim Jackson isn't so sure Jordan's return vaults the Wizards into playoff contention.

"With him coming back and not really being healthy, I don't think helps them," Jackson said. "I guess it would depend on how healthy he is. I think it's possible. But the team has to go through another adjustment playing with him. It's not like at the beginning of the year when you had time to adjust. Now you've got to win."

Miami is 2-2 against the Wizards this season and does not face them again. Miami has two games against Charlotte and Indiana remaining.

"I think Charlotte might have the upper hand, at least everybody thinks, from the scheduling standpoint," Riley said. "That's the nature of it right now, with three teams desperate to get in. We can't lose games at home, I don't care who we play."

Even after seeing the last of Michael Jordan on his team's schedule, Heat coach Pat Riley was confident he had not seen the last of the Wizards forward in the playoff race.

Now, with Jordan off Washington's injured list and back in the equation, Riley said there is an added challenge for the teams battling for one of the final playoff berths in the Eastern Conference.

 
"I think he probably always had the intention of coming back," Riley said Wednesday night before the Heat faced the Philadelphia 76ers at First Union Center. "I think everybody is thinking for him and wishing for him."

Jordan went on the injured list after sitting out the fourth quarter of a Feb. 24 loss in Miami. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee three days later, expecting to be sidelined for three to six weeks.

"He feels strong and he's going to come back to play," Riley said. "That's why he's here. And he still has a shot. There's no doubt they have a shot and he knows that, and he's going to try to give 'em an opportunity to achieve that.

"I don't think he wants to waste this year by sitting on the sidelines and not giving his team a shot to make the playoffs. I'm not surprised at all that he's coming back."

Heat players understand Jordan's return changes the face of the playoff race.

"I'm sure Michael wants to come back and show everybody it's not over for me," forward Kendall Gill said. "And with the extra incentive of the playoffs, that'll probably even make him better."