NEW YORK -- The news couldn't have been worse for the Miami Heat. You lose Alonzo Mourning, you lose your franchise player.

	Riley changed the Heat after last year's playoff elimination. Now he has more work to do.

But we'll go out on a limb and guarantee this: They're still making the playoffs.

They're still playing in the East, right? Last we checked, the East has no dominant centers and very few, if any, big-time scorers at power forward spot, correct?

Those are only two reasons we feel confident that the Heat can start printing playoff tickets today. And we haven't even gotten to the No. 1 reason. Remember the guy who's sitting in the No.1 chair on the Heat bench.

It's still Pat Riley, and he doesn't do lotteries.

Even without Mourning, look for Riley to get his newly-assembled team to a top-eight finish in the woefully weak East. He still has Eddie Jones, Brian Grant, Anthony Mason and Tim Hardaway, albeit maybe on just one leg, to win games. That's not too shabby. And Riley still will get his players to play defense at a higher level than 90 percent of the teams in the league.

"Losing Mourning knocks the Heat down some notches and really puts the East up for grabs," said one Eastern Conference VP yesterday. "But don't underestimate what Pat can do."

What Riley does is get the most out of his teams, as he's always done, particularly in New York and Miami. Without Mourning, the two-time reigning defensive player of the year, Miami's defense will drop a level or two. But remember that Jones, Mason and Grant are formidable defenders and the Heat's schemes will be rock-solid as ever. It's all because of Riley, who will probably get more out of front-line scrubs like Todd Fuller and Duane Causwell than anyone will believe possible.

"The big thing with Pat is that he always gets his teams to buy into what he's doing," said Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, a former Riley aide. "He told me early on, 'if players don't buy into what you want to do, you have no chance.' But his teams are always buying into his philosophy."

	Mason

	Grant

	Jones

Please understand, nobody here is saying the Heat are marching to the Finals. You just don't lose a player of Mourning's fire and toughness and defensive prowess and move merrily on. And offensively, there are big problems. Grant and Mason are limited and can be covered by single men. That means Jones won't get open looks off rotation because defenses don't have to double down. Who knows how much Hardaway has left? But don't forget, this is one ugly conference, and Miami still is a top-eight team.

"I will caution whoever is jumping off the Miami bandwagon not to," Orlando coach Doc Rivers said. "Riley has proven he's a trerrific coach. And they still have Eddie Jones, Tim Hardaway, Brian Grant and Anthony Mason. In the East, that's pretty formidable."

The only conference team with a dominant center is Atlanta, but Dikembe Mutombo is not a scorer, and the Hawks have precious little else around him. The team with the top interior offensive players is Charlotte, but Derrick Coleman and Elden Campbell didn't exactly get the Hornets too far last spring. They were first-round casualties, even with the homecourt edge.

When you play the Knicks, you don't have to worry about double-teaming Patrick Ewing in the post, or running out to cover him when he's 15 feet from the basket. They're a total perimeter team now with Allan Houston, Latrell Sprewell and Glen Rice.

Orlando has two perimeter studs in Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady, but zero at the four and five. All these kids playing for the Pacers up front now are perimeter players, not inside forces. The Sixers play hard, rebound, defend ... and Allen Iverson and Larry Brown will be at each other's throats.

See? The Heat might not be the last team standing in the East. But when all is said and done, Pat Riley will get his team into the postseason. At the least.

Rim Shots

	Iverson