Who: Orlando Magic vs. Miami Heat.
When: Tonight at 7:30.
Where: Orlando's TD Waterhouse Centre. Tickets: About 1,000 remain; call (800) 4-NBA-TIX (1-800-462-2849).
TV, radio: Sunshine Network; WMEL-AM 920, WDBO-AM 580.
Starters: Orlando -- guards Darrell Armstrong, Tracy McGrady; forwards Monty Williams, Pat Garrity; center Horace Grant. Miami -- guards Rod Strickland, Eddie Jones; forwards Kendall Gill, Brian Grant; center Alonzo Mourning.
Magic notes: Orlando enters its last game of the regular season needing a victory to guarantee itself homecourt advantage in the playoffs. The Magic would win any tiebreaker with Philadelphia by virtue of its 3-1 advantage in the season series. However, if they finish tied with Charlotte, the Hornets would get the fourth seed because they have beaten the Magic three times. The top four seeds host the first two games of the playoffs. . . Still bothered by a sore left ankle, Mike Miller was placed on the injured list Tuesday. Miller has twice missed time in the past month with a deep bone bruise in the ankle. He scored just 12 points in his 11 quarters. He can be activated off the injured list for the beginning of the playoffs.
Heat notes: Miami head coach Pat Riley will miss the playoffs for the first time in his illustrious 20-year coaching career. In fact, this is the first time a Riley-coached team will have a losing record. Before this season, his teams had never finished lower than second in their division. . . The Heat played the spoiler role to perfection last Friday night, beating Orlando 99-94 in Miami. It was Heat reserves Eddie House and Malik Allen who did most of the damage. House scored a career-high 28 points, with 16 coming in the fourth quarter. Allen, who entered the game with just two field goals all season, made eight of nine shots against the Magic. . . The Heat have won two of the three meetings between the two teams this season. The Magic won 92-87 in January in Orlando.
Next for the Magic: Saturday or Sunday (playoffs), vs. TBA.

The run was great while it lasted, but the quest to come back from a 5-23 record  to make the playoffs officially expired with last night?s loss to Boston.  

''The bottom line is we didn't get it done on the court, and I played a part in that,'' said Alonzo Mourning. ``It hasn't really hit home with me yet. I feel [it's a playoff team] with the personnel we have. All you can say is it won't happen again next season and not start the season spotting teams the way we did.''

''We hold them to 70, and we can't win,'' added Heat coach Pat Riley.  ``We have the best defense in the league, and we can't shoot the ball. It has been an ongoing problem all year. I believe it's a playoff team, but our record says we're not. We put ourselves in this position a long time ago. We played our hearts out. It wasn't meant to be.''

''I'm still not believing it,'' guard Eddie Jones said``It hasn't hit me yet.''

In the end it was too much of the same old low-scoring Heat which bit the team in the butt, nine points in the fourth quarter of a must-win game sealing their fate.

Despite spectacular individual performances from Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kenny Thomas, and gritty efforts from all concerned, the Rockets came up short in double overtime against Miami, falling to the Heat 120-117 at the AmericanAirlines Arena in front of a crowd of 15,223 on Tuesday night.

Francis, Mobley and Thomas combined to score 91 points as the Rockets (27-50) posted a season-high point total in the wild affair, but lost their fourth consecutive game and 11th of their last 13.

"Any other time I would be mad about losing, but I can't be mad this time because I thought we gave maximum effort out there," said Francis, who led all scorers with 35 points. "It was a great game to watch if you didn't care who won or lost."

Miami Heat coach Pat Riley announced on Sunday that he will be returning to the Heat next season to continue his role as both coach and president of the franchise, but it looks like not everyone is happy with his decision.  Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel asks the question of what exactly is Riley coming back to, and what exactly is he going to do?

The Miami Heat, just like the New York Knicks, are a team with no cap space (this season) that are stuck in mediocrity.  They are capped out and while they are not good enough to make the playoffs they are also too good to get a high lottery pick, giving them little moving room.

?I think it?s going to take patching until we get to the free-agent [money after next season],? Riley said. ?Or we trade one of our contract players.?

The players he is talking about are Eddie Jones and Brian Grant, both of whom Riley signed to maximum contracts two seasons ago and have failed to live up to their pay cheques.  Two seasons ago these players begged for a bigger role, to be ?the man?, and Riley gave them their opportunities.  Now we are sure Riley would love the Heat to exchange their salaries for their games.

?This is a playoff team,? Riley said. ?I think it?s good enough to make the playoffs. It?s not Zo [Mourning?s disease]. It?s not injuries. We had a 24-10 run and died. We hit the wall.

?The players didn?t play well enough and I didn?t coach well enough. The buck stops here. I didn?t get them over the hump after all that hard work. That?s what it comes down to.?

?A playoff team?? asks Hyde.  ?Just that? He once talked of championships, of ?winning and misery???

At this point, it's purely about cosmetics. In the absence of a miracle, the Heat will not make the postseason this year. The only team objective left is to put a pretty face on an ugly season.

Miami might fall short of that goal, too.

The Heat was unable to sustain a second-half push against one of the NBA's hottest teams, losing 97-90 to the Hornets at Charlotte Coliseum, a loss that puts Miami (32-42) 10 games under .500 for the first time since Feb. 20. But the only number that matters now is five -- the number of Heat losses or Indiana wins needed to mathematically eliminate the Heat from the playoffs.

The game was likely the Heat's farewell to Charlotte Coliseum. The city will likely lose its NBA franchise after ownership announced Wednesday it has met the requirements to relocate the Hornets to New Orleans. That news came only hours before Charlotte won its eighth game in 10 outings.

But some things never change. Just like in last season's playoff sweep of the Heat, it was former Heat forward Jamal Mashburn and third-year guard Baron Davis who ignited Charlotte in a victory over Miami, as the pair combined for 44 points. Mashburn scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to help overcome a Miami rally.

With eight games remaining, it is reasonable to ask whether the Heat can find the energy to play out the rest of the season.

''I'm going to continue to put pressure on my teammates to play as hard as we can,'' Heat center Alonzo Mourning said. ``There's only one way to play the game.''

Former Heat forward P.J. Brown joined Mashburn in saying Miami and coach Pat Riley -- who was assured his first losing season with the defeat -- will not quit. Both defended Riley.

''He's got what, 19 winning years out of 20?'' Brown said. ``I think every coach in America would like a resume like that.''

The loss overshadowed a 27-point game for Heat guard Eddie Jones, who hit four three-pointers in one of his best games in weeks. But the game was decided on defense, where the usually defensively sound Heat allowed easy baskets on defensive lapses and off double-teams.

``We had plenty of breakdowns on defense, Jones said. ``And it wasn't just one player. It was everybody.''

Davis burned the Heat with 17 first-half points, helping the Hornets take a 49-39 halftime lead. Charlotte shot 50 percent in the first half, taking advantage of defensive blunders by the Heat, such as leaving a hot-handed Davis wide open on the perimeter.

But the Heat limited the Hornets to 15 points in the third quarter after tightening up on defense, particularly against Davis, who did not score in the period. On the other end, the Heat warmed up, scoring 26 points.

Miami went ahead at the third-quarter buzzer when guard Eddie House hit a three-pointer to give the Heat its first lead since a 23-21 advantage with 1:59 left in the first quarter. The lineup that spurred the rally was made up mostly of reserves, including LaPhonso Ellis and Anthony Carter.

Charlotte regained the lead with 9:06 left on Davis' three-pointer, sparking a 33-point quarter for Charlotte.

One of the Hornets' most critical baskets was a Brown miss that Brian Grant inadvertently tipped in to give the Hornets an 80-77 lead. Mashburn made it 82-77 seconds later with a fadeaway jumper, then gave his team a seven-point lead with a three-pointer at the 2:32 mark. By the time Hornets forward Jamaal Magloire threw down an emphatic dunk over Mourning with 1:26 left, the result was a forgone conclusion.

As for Charlotte's seemingly inevitable move out of town, Riley called it unfortunate.

''This was one of the great arenas in the NBA,'' Riley said. ``They had 23,000 people in here. You didn't want to come in here and play.''

This is how times have changed: Before Wednesday night's game against the Hornets, conversation was not about Pat Riley's success, but rather about the first season the Heat coach will carry a losing record in his 20 on the sidelines.

Riley said he does not look at the year in any way as tainting his image.

"Obviously, that's up to the media," he said. "I don't think about it. I've been honored to have a lot of great players. So the asterisk next to my wins are all those names of great players. I mean, I've never won a game in my life, never made a basket. I get all those numbers next to my name. That's what coaches get.

"But I don't think about it anymore. Maybe when I was younger, I wanted to establish something. But I don't think about it anymore. I've coached too long."

Hornets forward P.J. Brown, among Riley's strongest admirers, said it is a surprise to see a losing record as part of his former coach's legacy.

"It's kind of weird to see that. He's been so successful for so many years," Brown said. "You're due for one, I guess. It'll probably be his only one. I don't think he'll let that happen again."

Riley said his focus remains on this season, including turning around his team's struggles at home.

"We've tried everything. I don't know. It's going to have to be something outside of the box," he said. "I don't know what it's going to be. Maybe it's going to be something absolutely different, like flying to Miami and staying at a hotel and don't let them go home."