In case you haven’t noticed, Dwyane Wade has been missing an awful lot of games this season for someone who reportedly has no injuries.
The Miami Heat’s training staff have Wade on a strict schedule in terms of when he should play – he has missed 12 games on the season – to preserve and prepare his body for the playoffs. The problem with this is that the team is just 7-5 when he is out of the lineup, and it’s a growing concern when you consider the championship aspirations of this team. The guard has missed three consecutive games for the first time this season, and LeBron James finally discussed how missing his partner hurts the Heat in their process of becoming a great team this season, from Michael Wallace of ESPN:
“With some of the guys being in and out, and with the concern with D-Wade, it’s been tough on all of us trying to fill that,” James said. “We’ve just got to be able to do a little bit more consistently, and go in with the mindset sometimes that he’s not playing instead of [he is] playing.”
James has supported the team’s approach to periodically rest Wade during the first half of the season. But on Tuesday, James seemed at a loss for words as he described Wade’s predicament.
“I’m not a doctor. I’m only a player, man,” James said. “I don’t know the [therapy] program he’s on. I do know that his knee, if he’s feeling good, he’s going to play. If he’s not feeling good, he doesn’t play. For me as one of the leaders on this team, I’ve got to make sure the guys that are prepared to play are ready to play. When D-Wade is ready to come back, then that’s what it is.”
“I can say from a rhythm standpoint, it’s kind of hurt us,” James said. “And we’re a team that’s built on rhythm, built on chemistry, and we’ve had so many lineup changes, so many different guys in and out with injuries that it’s kind of hurt our performance. We don’t like to use it as a crutch or as an excuse.”
Instead, it’s just a reality.
“It’s tough, it’s tough,” James said. “And guys think it’s easy, but it’s tough.”
We don’t know if they are holding Wade back for the reasons they claim or if it’s because he is actually in enough discomfort that it would hurt him (literally) to play. If it’s the latter, you have to wonder if the Heat are good enough to beat the Pacers in a seven-game series without homecourt advantage. If it’s the former, we won’t know until the playoffs come around to see if sitting him through so many games during the season really helps the team or hurt them because of what James mentioned – the inability to develop the kind of chemistry needed to three-peat.
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ANOTHER BROKEN HAND:
The season of broken hands continued on Wednesday with news about Kawhi Leonard, from Jeff McDonald of Express-News:
Kawhi Leonard has a fractured fourth metacarpal on his right hand. Out for the remainder of the game and probably then some.
— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) January 23, 2014
They eventually lost the game to the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-105. More importantly, a prolonged absence of Leonard could cost the San Antonio Spurs a chance to win homecourt advantage through the playoffs.
CLIPS OF THE DAY:
To this day, Vince Carter gets booed every time he touches the ball when he goes to play against the Toronto Raptors. The story was no different on Wednesday, but to the surprise of the fans, he responded with an impressive dunk over DeMar DeRozan:
Andrea Bargnani, another former Raptor, went in for a dunk of his own against the Philadelphia 76ers. It didn’t quite pan out as well as hoped.
DOMINIQUE WILKINS COVERS A PLETHORA OF TOPICS:
You’ll likely find this clip the most interesting: Wilkins believes he won the dunk contest against Michael Jordan back in 1988 dunk contest. That’s not really a surprise. What is a surprise is that Jordan also believed Wilkins probably should have won:
The full interview has loads of intriguing topics, like how Wilkins gained the respect of Larry Bird, who made him get most nervous on the court, if he would have wanted to play with Josh Smith as a teammate, why he “tenderized opponents” with parties the night before a game and much more:
OTHER NEWS AROUND THE LEAGUE: