March 27, 2001 SportsLine.com wire reports

MIAMI -- Miami Heat All-Star center Alonzo Mourning is returning from a kidney ailment that has sidelined him all season and once threatened to end his career.

Mourning said he will be monitored closely by doctors, and his return will be on a game-to-game basis.

"I am pleased finally to come to this day," Mourning said at a news conference at AmericanAirlines Arena. "I thought it was going to be later, but God works in mysterious ways."

Heat coach Pat Riley said he was surprised Tuesday when told Mourning could return this season, but always believed he would return eventually.

"I am not shocked by it -- I knew he was going to play again," Riley said.

Mourning's return bolsters the Heat's playoff chances. The team is 42-27 with 13 games left in the regular season and tied for second with New York in the Atlantic Division, 6½ games behind Philadelphia.

Earlier this month, Riley had said he would put Mourning on the Heat's playoff roster in case he could play when the postseason begins next month.

Mourning, 31 and a five-time All-Star, has been sidelined since doctors found during a routine training-camp physical in October that he has focal glomerulosclerosis, an illness that leads to kidney failure in about half the cases. That would have led to Mourning requiring dialysis or a transplant.

Mourning has been taking up to 11 pills a day to treat his kidneys and control his blood pressure and cholesterol. He also is following a strict low-sodium diet.

Mourning last played Oct. 1 in the U.S. Olympic team's gold-medal victory over France, but has practiced with the Heat in recent weeks. He finished third in voting for the NBA's MVP last season, averaging 21.1 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game, and was second in the MVP voting in 1998-99.

Riley said Mourning "has raised the level of his competition" in recent days, but he will not play a lot of minutes in his first games.

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," Riley said.

Mourning said he has not talked to any of his teammates about his return, but said his goal is to help the team win a championship.

"Whatever it takes," he said. "My teammates have done a tremendous job."

Focal glomerulosclerosis is a relatively rare disease and attacks the tiny filters in the kidney that remove waste from the blood, doctors say. Symptoms can include swelling in the legs, as in Mourning's case, and high rates of protein in the urine and high cholesterol.

The Heat acquired Mourning in November 1995 from the Charlotte Hornets, who drafted him No. 2 overall out of Georgetown in 1992.

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