THE WRITING ON (AND OFF) THE WALL A SAD, PREMATURE FINALE FOR MOURNING.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

Its not like Alonzo Mourning can just go to K-Mart and order up a new kidney.

Or can he?

Mourning, who began the week as a member of the New Jersey Nets, was mocked by teammate Kenyon Martin during a grueling conditioning drill for pulling up slowly after a sprint.

This is the same Mourning who missed all of last season and most of 2000-01 with a disease called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a degenerative kidney ailment that siphons off his energy and leaves his 6-foot-9 frame in plenty of pain.

What started as somewhat playful trash talking ended up with Mourning and Martin nearly coming to blows. Martin apparently made fun of Mourning using his kidney problem as a reason for his subpar performance on the court.

The 33-year-old Mourning had been averaging a meager 7.4 points and 2.3 rebounds in about 18 minutes a game coming off the bench for a team that went to the NBA Finals the past two years but was struggling around the .500 mark.

It was painfully obvious that this wasn't the same warrior who averaged 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks a game over a 10-year career, was named the league's defensive player of the year twice and was picked on seven NBA All-Star teams.

``He's one of the greatest centers I ever played with - probably the greatest,'' Shaquille O'Neal, Mourning's teammate on the gold-medal-winning squad at the 1994 World Championships, says about him in the new book: ``Giants: Big Men Who Shook The NBA, a profile of the 25 greatest centers in league history.''

All of which makes it very sad, even somewhat tragic, that Mourning got a call from his doctor Monday telling him that, after the several comebacks he's had to make to play again, it wasn't worth risking his life anymore. Oh, and by the way, he'll need a new kidney.

If only Mourning could have seen the look on Martin's face after getting that news.

And if only we could have seen Mourning's face the day after he announced his retirement.

The Kidney & Urology Foundation of America, which happens to have an office in New Jersey, began receiving phone calls - about 60 a day - from everyday people asking if they could donate one of their healthy kidneys.

About half of those calls were from folks wanting to donate specifically to help Mourning.

This brings up a bit of a moral dilemma. Of the 83,000 people across the country on the waiting list for an organ transplant, about 57,000 of them need a kidney. The wait for those who have Mourning's Type O blood is about four years. New Jersey alone has about 2,500 hoping there's someone out there who can help them get off a dialysis machine.

The KUF also reports about 17 people a day will die waiting for an organ transplant.

Does Mourning's celebrity warrant a good enough reason for him to jump to the head of the line? Is there anything wrong with someone wanting to help a specific person out with an organ (so long as it's all above board), no matter what reasons the donor might have?

Is this a good time for Kenyon Martin, who goes by the discounted nickname of K-Mart, to get a blood test and see if he matches up?

Hey, we're not going to guilt some insensitive now-former teammate into pursuing something as serious as this. For him to have the surgery necessary for something so noble, Martin could actually miss some playing time - kind of like what Mourning had to do over the past few seasons.

Chances are, Martin isn't compatible with Mourning in any way. That wouldn't be a surprise. And, it's probably just as well.

Martin should be the one on the organ donor list. Anyone out there willing to give him a heart?

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1) no caption (book: ``Who's Better, Who's Best in Basketball'')

(2) JOSE THEODORE

(3) CURT SCHILLING

(4) LAWRENCE TAYLOR

(5) - Warren Sapp, Tampa Bay defensive end

Box:

Sunday PUNCH