Miami ? Twenty months after the fact, the anticipated instant gratification has turned into enduring satisfaction.

"I think," coach Pat Riley said, "they've come together beautifully now."

"When I look him in the eye," center Alonzo Mourning said, "he knows exactly how I want it thrown up there."

When the Heat acquired power forward Brian Grant from the Portland Trail Blazers in August 2000, the fulfillment was expected to be immediate. Grant would provide the defensive presence lost in the trade of P.J. Brown to Charlotte but also add more bulk and a better-rounded offensive game in the power rotation alongside Mourning.

"But the only way you develop that type of chemistry and bond with each other is with time and playing together," Mourning said.

In recent weeks, that chemistry has been pronounced. Grant has handled the dirty work inside, consistently emerging with double figures in rebounding. That has allowed Mourning to concentrate on his low-post offense and shot blocking.

But only now are the two coming together.

During Grant's first season with the Heat, he did not start a game alongside Mourning. When Mourning returned for the final 13 games of last season after his battle with kidney illness, he did it mostly off the bench. Grant was used as a reserve when Mourning started the final three regular-season games. During the playoffs, when Mourning started, Grant was with the second team.

This season, with Grant missing most of November with a bone bruise in his right foot, the two did not truly become partners in the low post until Grant's Dec. 4 return from the injured list.

What Mourning and Brown had together was special, special enough to produce a series of 50-victory seasons.

Now, Mourning senses such chemistry with Grant.

"It just comes down to playing together, being in game situations, knowing where he likes the ball, knowing where I like the ball," Mourning said. "I think he's a little better shooter than P.J."

One of the nuances of the Heat offense is the high-low passing game between the power forward and center. It is an innate play, knowing exactly where and when the pivot player wants the ball. Lately, Grant to Mourning or Mourning to Grant has been more productive.

"In Portland, I used to do that with Rasheed [Wallace] and [Arvydas] Sabonis a lot," Grant said. "It becomes instinctive."

Little was instinctive about playing with Mourning before this latest run of success.

"I think Zo commands so much attention on the inside that you've really got to have the confidence to take the outside shot, because you're going to get a lot of open looks," Grant said of a role counter to the low-post function he satisfied last season. "That was mainly my thing early on, trying to get the confidence to take the outside shot."

Playing alongside Mourning also changed Grant's defensive perspective.

"I realized I could really get into my man a little harder, because if he beat me, Zo was going to be there," he said. "And then another thing is rebounding. Shoot, Zo's so big that my man might go to hit Zo before he hits me. A lot of those balls are coming my way because Zo's commanding so much attention."

Grant's numbers are way down this season. He averaged 15.2 points and 8.8 rebounds in an average of 33.8 minutes last season. This season, he is averaging 9.5 points and 7.9 rebounds in an average of 31.3.

"It was a little bit of an adjustment," he acknowledged. "I'm not scoring 17, 18 points like I was last season. You start feeling like scoring, that is all it's about. But that's not what it's all about. What it's all about is what do you bring to the team. And I had to figure that out. And that is, defending, my energy, my pursuit on rebounds, helping players on picks and rolls and screens.

"And I found out I'm a pretty good passer, too."