Sunday, February 25, 2007
Heat's road to championship altered by Wade's loss
It was every Heat fan's worst nightmare as they watched their star, Dwayne Wade, head for the team's bench clutching his left arm in severe pain.
As Wade made a play for the ball in Wednesday night's game against the Houston Rockets, he slapped his arm against the Rocket's Shane Battier and bent over in pain. Cameras captured a crying Wade on the bench as he grimaced in pain and was carted away in a wheelchair. The Heat went on to lose the game 112-102.
The diagnosis on Wade is a severe dislocated shoulder that would force him out of action for at least six weeks, if Wade decides to prolong surgery and rehab the injury. However, if he opts for surgery, it would be the end of the season for one of the league's toughest players. It appears the star, famous for his "fall seven times, get up eight" ads, may have met his match in a freak accident that did not appear to have been serious in subsequent replays.
The questions on everyone's minds are "What decision will Wade make?" and "Can the Heat make it to the playoffs without him?"
The Heat attempted to answer the latter question with a win over Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier today. The Heat put up a great defensive effort, forcing the Cavs to a poor 36 percent shooting game.
Riding on the coattails of the big man, Shaq, and a great all-round game from Alonzo Mourning and James Posey, the Heat has set out to prove that they can survive the rest of the regular season without their scoring and steals leader; perhaps prolonging Wade's decision to return or not.
Also adding to the importance of Wade's decision is the fact that many believe this might be the Heat's last chance with its current roster of winning a championship. Already one of the oldest teams in the league, it will be even more difficult to imagine Shaq, Mourning, Payton and Walker giving the team this same kind of intensity and production every night, while staying injury free. If the team is going to try to make a run for a second championship, this may be their only window of opportunity.
So until Wade returns--and I believe that he will, in keeping with his tough nature and recognition of the fact that the team will need him if it wants to defend its trophy-- the Heat's role players would have to step up.
As Mourning said today in a half-time court interview with Michelle Tafoya, the team would have to rely on its defensive prowess to give it key stops and spread Wade's scoring amongst its role players.
Eddie Jones, who recently returned to the team after being bought out by the Memphis Grizzlies, is the likely player to replace Wade's production. While not quite the offensive player that Wade is, Jones is one of the better defensive players on the team and is capable of producing on the offensive end as well, having served as team's scoring leader few years back.
Jason Kapono, who has thrived from the open looks that Wade has created, needs to maintain his level of shooting while increasing his scoring and Antoine Walker needs to become more efficient in his shot selection and defense.
The Heat has a longshot to make it back to the finals, but I wouldn't bet against the team--just ask the Ocala man who took to robbing a bank three times to recover the $10,000 debt he incurred from betting aginst them in last year's final-- because no one can underestimate the heart of a championship team, and more importantly, the toughness of Dwayne Wade.
As Wade made a play for the ball in Wednesday night's game against the Houston Rockets, he slapped his arm against the Rocket's Shane Battier and bent over in pain. Cameras captured a crying Wade on the bench as he grimaced in pain and was carted away in a wheelchair. The Heat went on to lose the game 112-102.
The diagnosis on Wade is a severe dislocated shoulder that would force him out of action for at least six weeks, if Wade decides to prolong surgery and rehab the injury. However, if he opts for surgery, it would be the end of the season for one of the league's toughest players. It appears the star, famous for his "fall seven times, get up eight" ads, may have met his match in a freak accident that did not appear to have been serious in subsequent replays.
The questions on everyone's minds are "What decision will Wade make?" and "Can the Heat make it to the playoffs without him?"
The Heat attempted to answer the latter question with a win over Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier today. The Heat put up a great defensive effort, forcing the Cavs to a poor 36 percent shooting game.
Riding on the coattails of the big man, Shaq, and a great all-round game from Alonzo Mourning and James Posey, the Heat has set out to prove that they can survive the rest of the regular season without their scoring and steals leader; perhaps prolonging Wade's decision to return or not.
Also adding to the importance of Wade's decision is the fact that many believe this might be the Heat's last chance with its current roster of winning a championship. Already one of the oldest teams in the league, it will be even more difficult to imagine Shaq, Mourning, Payton and Walker giving the team this same kind of intensity and production every night, while staying injury free. If the team is going to try to make a run for a second championship, this may be their only window of opportunity.
So until Wade returns--and I believe that he will, in keeping with his tough nature and recognition of the fact that the team will need him if it wants to defend its trophy-- the Heat's role players would have to step up.
As Mourning said today in a half-time court interview with Michelle Tafoya, the team would have to rely on its defensive prowess to give it key stops and spread Wade's scoring amongst its role players.
Eddie Jones, who recently returned to the team after being bought out by the Memphis Grizzlies, is the likely player to replace Wade's production. While not quite the offensive player that Wade is, Jones is one of the better defensive players on the team and is capable of producing on the offensive end as well, having served as team's scoring leader few years back.
Jason Kapono, who has thrived from the open looks that Wade has created, needs to maintain his level of shooting while increasing his scoring and Antoine Walker needs to become more efficient in his shot selection and defense.
The Heat has a longshot to make it back to the finals, but I wouldn't bet against the team--just ask the Ocala man who took to robbing a bank three times to recover the $10,000 debt he incurred from betting aginst them in last year's final-- because no one can underestimate the heart of a championship team, and more importantly, the toughness of Dwayne Wade.
