Winners Ought to Quit

Three words for the Miami Heat: David Freakin’ Robinson. The Admiral, you’ll recall, was the future Hall of Fame center (and man with the most chiseled arms ever) who anchored the San Antonio Spurs for most of the ´90s, until he tweaked his back and later broke his foot (against the Heat, no less) in the ’97-’98 season. A process that left a theretofore solid Spurs squad to fall into 20-62 squalor. With that dismal record and a pang of luck, the Spurs’ ping-pong ball came up first in the draft. They grabbed Tim Duncan. The next season, with Robinson healed and Duncan brilliant, the Spurs won the title. Then they did it again in 2003 and twice more since Robinson’s retirement.

Now, the Duncan-led Spurs are going to roll into Miami and pummel the Heat, largely because Miami’s stars are ding-dang banged up. Shaquille O’Neal is walking like a mummy that’s tripping on its bandages; Dwyane Wade’s shoulder injury last year, Pat Riley recently revealed, was actually a reverse dislocation, with nerve damage. The Heat are bad enough that they’d be better off giving those guys sick leave ´til summer, then pick Michael Beasley or O.J. Mayo near the top of the Draft. Still, the Heat will fight the good fight against San Antonio at the American Airlines Arena (601 Biscayne Blvd., Miami) on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Tickets begin at $10. Call 786-777-4667, or visit www.heat.com.
Thu., Jan. 24, 8 p.m., 2008