Haslem’s Second Wind Started in High School

Frank Martin once based a practice’s success on Udonis Haslem’s vomiting. If Haslem, Martin’s powerhouse post player at Miami Senior High, had a lackadaisical practice, the team ran suicides or wind sprints up and down the court. Or the players were forced to get into defensive stances and slide the languid tendencies away.

Martin did not appreciate apathy. To him, natural skills mixed with developed ones were the lottery combination. Haslem possessed the former, but not the latter.

“He was content to stand there and if the ball came to him, he would get it,” Martin said. “If it didn’t, it didn’t.”

If Haslem did not work to create more space, Martin instructed the guards not to pass the ball inside to Haslem. If Haslem did not rebound, he instructed the guards not to give him the ball. If the guard passed Haslem the ball and Martin did not think Haslem deserved it, the passer was punished with wind sprints.

Haslem said that made him angry.

“But it made me work,” he added. “It really made me work. He was the first guy to push me that hard, because everything just came so naturally, so early.”

Martin helped shape a quickly developing Haslem, not just physically, by trimming off Haslem’s baby fat, but also mentally.

“He went from a heavy kid that really didn’t run to a lighter kid that could run with the best of them,” Martin, now the coach at Kansas State, said.

Haslem, now with the Miami Heat, thought about Martin’s drills on Wednesday during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Chicago Bulls. Haslem’s heart was thumping. His first wind ended too quickly during his first full rotation since Nov. 20, when a foot injury stole the bulk of his season. On a couple of plays, Chris Bosh had to direct a disoriented Haslem into his correct floor positioning.

But Haslem’s second wind arrived. He blocked Derrick Rose, dunked on Keith Bogans, popped in jumpers and, for a night, became the blind spot in Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau’s defensive game plan. Haslem amassed 13 points and 5 rebounds and helped change the tenor of the third quarter of the Eastern Conference finals, helping Miami to even the series at 1-1.

“He’s the heartbeat of this team,” said Dwyane Wade, who with Haslem is the only remnant of the Heat team that beat the Dallas Mavericks for the N.B.A. championship in 2006.