Alonzo Mourning came to New Jersey in 2003 to win a championship.
His blinding obsession brought him back to Continental Arena on Thursday night, but he wore his old Miami Heat uniform.
In his first game since signing with Miami on Tuesday, Mourning entered with two minutes, 19 seconds left in the Heat's 106-90 victory to a smattering of boos from the few remaining fans.
"Hey, they should be booing the person who broke the team up, to tell you the truth," Mourning said, firing one final volley that followed his other criticisms of the night.
Mourning offered no thanks to the Nets for trading him to Toronto last December, or to the Raptors for agreeing to a US$9 million buyout so he could rejoin the Heat for US$325,000. He thanked only his doctors for supporting him during his kidney transplant.
And then Mourning admitted, much like Vince Carter did after he came in the Nets trade for Mourning, that he stopped caring about playing for a team that gave a four-year US$22.6 million contract in 2003.
"It got to the point here -- I never felt this way about basketball in my life -- where I didn't care," Mourning said. "Where I stepped on the floor and it was like, `Wow, I don't care.' It was kind of unfortunate because I never thought I would reach that level."
Mourning harshly criticized the Nets' new owner, Bruce C. Ratner, at the beginning of this season for not re-signing Kenyon Martin and for what he said was their broken promise to build a championship squad.
"I told them that I'm at the stage of my career based on my health and where I am mentally, I couldn't be a part of anything rebuilding," Mourning said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't play this game, it's just not worth it to me to put the time out on the court and not see a reward at the end of it all. That's the most important thing -- seeing a reward and winning."
Asked about people's perceptions of his actions, Mourning said: "I can't worry about that. I got to worry about Alonzo Mourning. Because, a year or two ago, there was a chance that Alonzo Mourning wouldn't be standing here talking to you, that's the cold reality of it."
He added, "I've been blessed, fortunate, given a chance to live a normal life again."
And win a title. But that has eluded other great players in the NBA. Whether driven by selfishness or competitive fervor, several players this season have asked to be traded in search of a championship.
From Carter to Jason Kidd to Mourning to Baron Davis to Jim Jackson, all but Kidd are playing for a new team, and owners are getting upset.
A small group of owners met Thursday to discuss, among other things, their concerns over players' increasing demands to get out of contracts, according to one owner who attended the meeting.
At the same time it seems teams are enabling players to leave because they realize buyouts could serve their interests in winning a championship.
Mourning scoffed when asked if he was gratified that the Nets signed him to a big contract despite the kidney ailment that kept him out for the previous two seasons.
"First and foremost, they did what was best from them," Mourning said. "They wouldn't have taken a chance with me unless they knew what they were getting out of it -- you know why they signed me here."
The Nets were desperate to avoid losing Kidd as a free agent, which resulted in their giving Mourning a deal longer and more expensive than any other team was willing to give.
He played just 12 games in 2003 before his kidney transplant. He returned last October disgruntled. By December, Mourning had made himself into what the Nets' president, Rod Thorn, termed a distraction.
Mourning's surliness over his situation only festered. And then his body began to break down, not from the kidney transplant, but because he was unable to bear the pounding without taking anti-inflammatory medication.
Mourning shot back at Thorn on Thursday, calling it unfair for Thorn to offer a cryptic statement about the last three games Mourning missed with injury before being traded to Toronto.
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