Even when he knocks down key shots — as he has lately — they aren't the sort that will make anybody's highlight show. Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem can hit wide-open, 15-foot jumpers with the best of them, but he doesn't rattle any backboards like Shaquille O'Neal or Alonzo Mourning. He doesn't throw up high-arching threes that bring down the house like Antoine Walker.
You won't see him go behind-the-back on the break like Jason Williams, and he most certainly doesn't offer the nightly ballets that come from Dwyane Wade. In short, there is a reason opposing defenses allow him open looks. He is so accustomed to his anonymity that he couldn't resist cracking a few jokes when surrounded by reporters Monday afternoon after the Heat's practice session.
You "are giving me attention," he said, "because of the guy I got to guard."
Indeed, Haslem faced a slew of questions not about his timely spurts of offense during the Eastern Conference finals, but rather about the player he will be assigned to chase when the NBA Finals begin Thursday in Dallas against the Mavericks.
Heat Coach Pat Riley said Haslem will start off defending Dirk Nowitzki, the 7-foot living nightmare that Riley compared favorably to Larry Bird (only bigger) and who has averaged 28.4 points in the playoffs. For Haslem, the assignment represents another round of the dirty work to which he has become accustomed. If he's not guarding the opposition's top offensive player, he said, he has been the Heat player designated to provide most of the help to his teammates on defense.
Nowitzki is "the premier offensive player on his team — I'm not on my team," said Haslem, who stands 6 feet 8 and has averaged just 9.4 points. "I want to let the world know: Don't be surprised if he outscores me."
Haslem's opportune jumpers, however, helped Miami defeat the Detroit Pistons last week in six games, and Riley said his low profile belies his importance to the Heat, the team he cheered for as a child while growing up in one of the city's hard-scrabble neighborhoods. Riley said Haslem, who led Miami High to two state titles, has taken on more of a leadership role with his hometown Heat than outsiders realize.
"Udonis speaks his mind," Riley said. "He's a no-nonsense guy. If he sees guys taking a step back or not pulling their part of the rope, he will let them know."
Riley added that Haslem "tolerates" superstars, but he doesn't tolerate slackers.
Haslem let his views be known on one particularly prominent occasion. In the visiting locker room in Dallas on Feb. 9, after the Heat suffered its most lopsided defeat — by 36 points — of the season, Riley urged players to jointly address problems that seemed to be pulling the team apart. Two players led the discussion that ensued: Gary Payton, 37, a 16-year player added to the roster last summer as part of a veteran overhaul that Riley thought would add depth to the roster.
And Haslem, who turns 26 this week, in his third year — one of the few youngsters that survived Riley's summertime dissection of the team.
Haslem told his teammates it was time to start supporting one another.
"That was one of the times I felt like it was time to be vocal," Haslem said. "I just felt like it was a situation where we weren't playing as well as the talent on this team. . . . We weren't trusting each other. We weren't playing for each other. We weren't laying out on the floor for each other."
Said Walker: "At that point, 40 or 50 games into the season, we had just embarrassed ourselves on national television. . . . We just [weren't] happy with it, and Udonis spoke up."
The emotional discussion that followed, players and Riley said, helped engineer a major turnaround for Miami. The team won 15 of its next 16 games, including 10 in a row, helping erase the doubts that Walker said emerged as the team struggled to meet expectations all season.
Riley acquired Walker, Payton, Williams and James Posey in the offseason with the hope of improving a roster that nearly advanced to last year's NBA Finals. Results, though, were slow in coming, and questions about the wisdom of the shake-up chased Riley all season.
The Heat won fewer regular season games than it had in 2004-05 under Stan Van Gundy, who resigned in December to set the stage for Riley's return to coaching.
"Last year, things just clicked easier," Haslem said. But "we stayed 15 strong. We kept it tight, between us, and things turned around."
As the Heat's prospects improved, Haslem's life became more complicated. He said he goes back to his old neighborhood frequently to have dinner at the houses of various family members: his mother, grandmother, aunts. Everybody, he said, is here. When he goes back home, he sees all of his old friends, too. He has to remind himself, he admitted Monday, to keep his focus on the playoffs. He can't hang out with his buddies until 2 or 3 a.m. He cannot respond to all of the requests for autographs, memorabilia, money and tickets.
There is, he said, way too much at stake.
"It's sentimental to me," he said about the opportunity to participate in the Heat's first championship series. "It's about my city, my people, my family and my friends. Even though I went to the University of Florida, I'm still a [University of Miami] Hurricanes fan. I'm still a Dolphins fan.
"I bleed Miami."