Heat leery of faliing into "trap." <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> There might be no other coach in the NBA who can sympathize with what the struggling Boston Celtics have been going through more than Heat interim coach Ron Rothstein. The Heat has won four games in a row and is playing its best basketball of the season, but Rothstein is spooked by tonight's visit to play the Celtics, who have a franchise-worst 15-game losing streak after Tuesday's defeat in Detroit. As the original head coach of the expansion Heat in 1988, Rothstein recalled Tuesday when that team went through a similar drought. And more important, how dangerous it made the Heat for the next opponent on its schedule as the losses piled up. ''I'm frightened to death,'' Rothstein said after Tuesday's practice. ``I coached the original Miami Heat team to 17 straight losses. I know how desperate a team becomes. You have to respect the professionalism in the other locker room. They're NBA players. They may be struggling. But they're capable, and you don't want to be the team that makes them more capable.'' The Heat (23-25) has not been immune to letdowns when facing what Rothstein refers to as ''trap games'' this season. At two games below .500 with four left before the All-Star break, the Heat will try to avoid the ultimate ambush. </div> Miami Herald
