Howard Feeling The Heat

There is one game that means more to the Miami Heat and Pat Riley than any they’ll play against the New York Knicks this season. And that one game is today, when the Washington Bullets - make that Juwan Howard - come to town.

A nice, fat, double-digit Heat victory is be the type of reminder Riley would love to send to Howard, who ducked out of his $100 million contract with Miami, with an assist from commissioner David Stern.

What’s hard to understand about the whole Howard-Bullets-Heat affair last summer was the bad guys who emerged from the episode. Some put the blame on Riley and on Stern, everywhere but where the blame truly belonged: on Howard.

After all, when the league voided Howard’s contract with Miami, he didn’t fight it. Instead, he quickly resigned with the Bullets, then announced that Washington was the place he wanted to be all along.

“People down there are going to boo me whenever I touch the ball,” said Howard, expecting the worst. “But it wasn’t my fault. I did what’s best to take care of Juwan’s future. Pat Riley felt that I did not stay and support them, take their side, nothing like that. He thought I was taking the money and running. He’s entitled to his opinion … but I had to do what’s best to take care of me.”

But it’s hard to imagine the NBA office playing hardball if Howard insisted on staying in Miami. That’s what makes Riley so upset. When backed into a corner, Howard ran.

Anyway, Riley’s getting the last laugh. With Howard, the Bullets are barely a .500 team and no lock for the playoffs. Without Howard, the Heat are cruising toward a 55-win season and a high seed in the postseason.

Warriors deny trade rumors

Golden State Warriors general manager Dave Twardzik denied that a trade sending B.J. Armstrong to Detroit for Stacey Augmon was imminent.

A Detroit radio station reported that Armstrong, the Warriors’ backup point guard and a Detroit native, would be sent to the Pistons for Augmon, the 6-8 swingman who apparently has dug a permanent hole for himself in Detroit. Further speculation had it that Augmon would then be sent to the Lakers for forward Robert Horry (acquired from the Suns just three days ago) and backup center Sean Rooks.

All aspects of the deal apparently are untrue - except that Augmon, whom the Pistons acquired in a trade from Atlanta last summer, is likely to be dealt to the first available caller.

Last Thursday, after an argument between Augmon and coach-vice president Doug Collins ended with Collins throwing him out of practice, the Pistons said they plan to trade the rarely used swingman by Monday.

Making up for lost time

Both the Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic are now in a rush to make up for lost time. With Rik Smits and Penny Hardaway back from injuries, Indiana and Orlando are gunning for two of the eight playoff spots. There’s still plenty of time, but time is precious now.

“If Penny and Nick (Anderson) and Dennis (Scott) were healthy from the beginning of the year and with replacing Shaq with Rony Seikaly, we’d be right where we should be, one of the four best teams in the Eastern Conference,” Magic coach Brian Hill said. “I haven’t changed from that thinking.”

The Magic did manage to steal Seikaly from the Golden State Warriors. Seikaly is still capable of killing a possession with his poor passing, but he has inside skills and can rebound and is a vast improvement over Felton Spencer. The Magic has more experience than the Milwaukee Bucks and more talent than the Charlotte Hornets, two teams also looking to snatch a playoff spot.

Smits may be back, but the Pacers center isn’t in the clear yet. He still has problems with mobility and his feet could hamper him all season.

Smits thinks he won’t be able to put up quality numbers until later in the month. The Pacers could be a much better team by then.

Robinson won’t appeal

Portland’s Clifford Robinson says he won’t appeal his one-game suspension, even though he continues to dispute reports that he swore at coach P.J. Carlesimo.

“How do I plan to deal with it? Not play Tuesday. That’s the bottom line,” Robinson said. “For me to try to keep more attention on this than needs to be - I’m not going to do that. I’m going to accept the suspension and deal with it.”