SPORTS
The Heat's 'Rimed Up
For Miami's Rothstein
HARLAN C. ABBEY
Special to The Jewish News
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ast year, the first for
the Miami Heat as an
expansion team in the
NBA, it took coach Ron
Rothstein 17 frustrating
defeats before he could record
his first win as .. a pro head
coach.
But the team drew big
crowds, lost 24 games by eight
points or less'and drew atten-
tion to Rothstein's skill by its
hustle on both offense and
defense.
Rothstein admitted that
this year there would be more
pressure on him to record a
better season than last year's
15 wins and 67 losses.
"More pressure? Sure they
expect me to win a little
more," admitted the former
assistant coach for the Atlan-
ta Hawks and Detroit
Pistons.
"But I want to win more
games, too," he declared.
"That's what sports is all
about." As of Monday, Miami
had seven wins, 17 losses.
"We're definitely a better
team, especially defensively.
We are more talented — but
even younger than we were
last season."
Four rookies made the
Heat's final roster: first-round
pick Glen Rice from NCAA
champion Michigan; Sher-
man Douglas of Syracuse;
Scott Haffner of Evansville,
and unheralded Terry Davis
of Virginia Union.
"Our veterans," said the
former University of Rhode
Island point guard, "are Rory
Sparrow, who is 31, Jon Sund-
vold, 28, and Pat Cummings
33. All the rest are 25 or
younger."
Rothstein is hoping that
Rice can be the consistent
scorer the team has lacked.
Last season the Heat was the
only team in the NBA to
average less than 100 points
per game.
As of early this week,
rookie Rice was averaging
10.6 points, four rebounds
and one assist per game.
Veteran Sundvold was third
in the NBA in three-point
goals average, hitting 11 of
21.
For most of the season it
was second in the league in
offensive rebounding — an ex-
ample of the hustle installed
by Rothstein, some experts
said.
But one of the players ex-
plained: "Sure, we got a lot of
offensive rebounds. But that's
because we missed so many
shots!"
Ron Rothstein:
What it's about.
The same player added,
"Ron is a good coach, and a
good guy!"
Rothstein, who is credited
with installing the defensive
system that enabled the
Detroit Pistons to win last
year's NBA play-offs, said this
season the Heat "will be try-
ing more up-tempo stuff to
take advantage of our speed.
And we should have better
shooting with Rice, Haffner
and Tellis Frank, for whom
we traded.
"Ron Seikaly, Grant Long
and shooting guard Kevin Ed-
wards all are improving.
Seikaly, especially, has work-
ed long and hard over the
summer." Last- year Seikaly
shot under 50 percent from
the free-throw line, but has •
been doing much better so far
this season.
Long, a Detroit native, is
averaging 10.5 points per
game. Edwards is averaging
two steals per game.
The Heat, whose major
owners are Israeli-born Ted
Arison and Zev Buffman,
played a pre-season game
against Maccabi Tel Aviv,
winning by 101-92 before
8,000 fans.
"It was a good game, and at
the dinner afterwards I
received an award from the
people of Miami," Rothstein
said.
Last season, the Heat com-
peted in the NBA's Midwest
Division against Dallas,
Denver, Houston, San An-
tonio and Utah. This year
they're in the Atlantic Divi-
sion with Boston, the New
York Knicks, New Jersey
Nets, Philadelphia and
Washington.
"Will our schedule be more
difficult this year? We'll find
out," he said. ❑