<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">MIAMI ? If watching it wasn't part of his job, coach Pat Riley might have skipped Friday's in-flight feature. The Heat produced a special-edit DVD of every Vince Carter point from the Nets' Dec. 23 victory at AmericanAirlines Arena. Considering Carter matched his career high with 51, it was the highlight reel equivalent of a Lord of the Rings installment. Probably because it's only a two-hour flight to New Jersey, the production didn't include Carter's 32 points from the Nov. 7 meeting. This afternoon at Continental Airlines Arena, the Heat will get its third crack at keeping Carter in check. Although the Nets have lost 9 of 13 and 5 of 6 since winning 10 straight, they are looking for a 10th consecutive home victory. Another performance like the first two against the Heat and Carter can exponentially increase his team's chances of sustaining that streak. "It bothered me," said forward James Posey, of Carter's 51-point outburst, which included a career-best 23 points from the foul line. "He's a heck of a player, but that doesn't sit well. Thirty points don't even sit well." Posey, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton will share the responsibility of shadowing Carter. In two games against the Heat, Carter has shot 58.7 percent from the field. Compare that to his 36.5 percent success rate during the Heat's four-game playoff sweep last season, when Eddie Jones covered Carter. "I remember him getting a lot of points in transition," said Riley, of Carter's Dec. 23 effort. "I remember him getting points on post-ups ... I do remember him getting about 10 free throws in the last two minutes of the game when we were fouling desperately to get back in the game. "We saw the same thing with Tracy [McGrady] and we're going to see the same thing with Vince. It's defending correctly at the point of the pick or the point of the post-up, and what we do on the weakside and how quickly we'll close to other players when the ball comes out." The Heat can draw from solid defensive showings in recent victories against McGrady's Rockets and LeBron James' Cavaliers. The two players scored 37 and 29 points, respectively, but they did it on a combined 37.9 percent shooting. Defensively, the strategy against Carter is the same as it was against the two aforementioned stars -- keep him out of the lane and make sure he sees plenty of bodies. Riley said unlike the Cavaliers, the Nets don't have the 3-point options to stretch a defense, allowing teams to play a more compact defensive game. "They're not the same player, but they've got some of the same skills," said Wade, comparing James and Carter. "You want to make those guys see not only the guy who's defending them, but the guy helping and the big guy coming off pick and rolls."</div> Source
