One day after the fiasco in Miami, the boss was curiously calm. You could attribute this to Rod Thorn's extensive experience with referees and their human frailties, or his agreeable countenance, or the irrefutable fact that complaining rarely does anyone much good.

But the Nets' team president acknowledged he was miffed by two calls that went against his team Monday night, and that he was prepared to move on from it -- though he admits it took him a while to get over it.

"As you know, I was pretty exasperated afterward, I'll say that," Thorn said yesterday. "But you have another game. And if you let the players think we had something (unfair) happen to us, that will feed on itself. We don't need that."

Just the same, Thorn believes both decisions by the officiating crew were wrong. The first was a phantom foul on Richard Jefferson that sent Dwyane Wade to the line for the winning free throw with 5.2 seconds left; the second was a non-call against Alonzo Mourning, who gave Vince Carter a midair hip-check on the next possession, which ended the game with Miami clinging to a 90-89 victory.

"Richard made no contact with Wade, and when you have the benefit of replay, you could see that," Thorn said. "And at the other end, it was right in front of me. To me, Mourning made excessive contact -- and it wasn't vertical contact. It was movement into him. And in that particular case, it was a foul.

"But in real time you don't have the benefit of seeing slow-motion replay, and guys make judgments, and unfortunately for us, they're not always on the money."