Mourning may be saved by the game, not the reverse.

Publication: South Florida Sun-Sentinel (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service)

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COPYRIGHT 2001 South Florida Sun-Sentinal

Byline: Michael Mayo

MIAMI _ At 8:28 p.m. on Tuesday, Alonzo Mourning peeled off his warm-up suit and walked to the scorer's table at AmericanAirlines Arena. Now the clock above him marked time differently, saying there was 3:43 left in the first quarter.

He drew a deep breath, stepped onto the floor and let the noise wash over his body.

"All Systems Zo," read one sign bobbing in the crowd.

It was time to check back into the world he craved, the one where the clock gets reset every night.

For a brief moment, there was no more disease, no worries about kidneys and protein levels. There was no future and no past. Just this wonderful present.

"He's happy," Tracy Mourning said in a hallway at halftime. "He's doing what he loves."

Distilled to its core, that's what this night was about. It wasn't about winning...

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