When Brian Grant signed with Miami, he was thought to be the perfect complement to Alonzo Mourning on the Heat frontline.

The problem has been that Grant hasn't had the chance to work with Mourning often. On Saturday, they played most of the game side-by-side, helping the Heat to a win against New Jersey.

Grant had nine points (on only nine shots) and 12 rebounds, and did many of the things that made P.J. Brown such a valuable Miami player a few seasons ago.

"I feel good playing like that," Grant said. "I don't have to take a lot of shots. I can just get in there and rebound. It feels good to be out there and do the things to get people open, setting screens, getting Eddie (Jones) open for the jump shots, getting Rod (Strickland) open, high-lowing it to Zo.

"If that's my role, that's a defining role for me. I don't have to be a big-time scorer. Things went well today, and I just want to build on that for the rest of the season."

Grant's defining play Saturday was a second half offensive rebound which he tipped four times to himself, ending up with the ball outside the three-point arc.

"That was old school," Grant said. "Like when I used to play for other teams I used to do that all the time. Sometimes you get so caught up in thinking that you have to do this, or you have to score or people are going to think you're not playing right. I just let all that go today."

Mourning's steadily improving play has allowed Grant to be the defender and rebounder Heat coach Pat Riley wants Grant to be. And Mourning has found that the communication between him and Grant has improved as the season has progressed.

"It makes it a whole lot easier because we're both in sync," Mourning said. "We've got that high-low pass down, where I roll to the basket. He knows I'll catch it. He knows where to throw it. He knows when I'm holding my man down, he can go get the rebound. We've got that communication down."

? Feeling the sting: Miami did little celebrating after Saturday's win because the victory actually reminded the Heat of their frustrating loss to Orlando on Thursday.

"Brian just mentioned it to me," Mourning said. "He said winning this game today makes losing Thursday's game hurt even more because you're disappointed with yourself for letting that one go when all you had to do was play a little bit more focused for 48 minutes."

Miami led that game in Orlando by 11 in the third quarter before losing by five.

"When Orlando raised the ante, we didn't take the challenge," Riley said. "We just sort of died."

? Mourning milestone: With his basket at the 4:04 mark of the second quarter, Mourning reached the 12,000-point mark for his career.