Where Amazing Happens: Dwyane Wade prime to exploit ailing Knicks

With New York's top wing defender out, Dwyane Wade is itching to lace up vs. the Knicks' backups.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Dwyane Wade was running alongside Iman Shumpert during the third quarter Saturday afternoon when the New York Knicks guard pulled up lame. The scream of pain reached Wade’s ears before the ball, which Shumpert had fumbled away. After Wade made a basket with a foul a moment later there was no celebration. He turned and looked back to his fallen competitor. Wade has experienced a freak season-ending injury himself in the past. Shumpert’s postseason is over; he’d torn his ACL.

“To see one of the top rookies go down, as a player you never want to see another player go down,” Wade said. “He’s a guy who had been playing very well for them, he brought a lot of confidence for them on the defensive end. He plays with a lot of energy; he’s an engine that just keeps going. It’s very unfortunate.” Unfortunate indeed for Shumpert and the Knicks, who lose their top perimeter defender and the player primarily assigned to handle Wade during this first-round playoff series. But simply put, the injury may benefit Wade.

Now that the Knicks have lost Shumpert, Wade may have the green light to attack the Knicks for the rest of the series.

LeBron James was the offensive star in Game 1, making 10 of 14 shots and leading a parade to the foul line. The Knicks are sure to attempt to make adjustments to keep James away from the basket. With the active and aggressive Shumpert not there to deal with Wade, things could open up for the Heat’s other superstar.

After missing most of the last three weeks to rest and nurse minor injuries, Wade started Game 1 off a little rusty. But as the game went on, his confidence started to grow. He scored 11 of his 19 points in the second half and didn’t want to leave the floor in the fourth quarter even with the Heat up 30 points. Coach Erik Spoelstra finally called a timeout to get him to the bench.

“I was just getting back into the flow. I’ve been out and I needed to get my timing back,” Wade said. “I started to see some things and some places where I could get some shots in and I didn’t want to come out.” Expect that to carry over to Game 2, where the Knicks will have to have a new game plan and personnel changes. Baron Davis and Tyson Chandler are game-time decisions, and J.R. Smith may be pressed into some more point guard duty. Landry Fields is expected to start in Shumpert’s place.

Knicks coach Mike Woodson said he feels his team has the depth to cover for Shumpert. But it will be tough to play his preferred style and give Wade some advantage. Several times in Game 1, the less-than-spry Steve Novak ended up guarding Wade because Woodson prefers switching on pick-and-rolls defensively. This is a terrible mismatch that the Heat weren’t able to take advantage of. When asked about it, Wade just made a joke about his college days when he and Novak were both at Marquette. But if it happens again, look for the Heat and Wade to exploit it.

Wade, in general, expects to be more involved as the series goes on. During the regular season, he averaged 26 points and shot 53 percent in the three games against the Knicks. They have a hard time dealing with him even when they're at full strength.

Now they’re not, and Wade’s main defender is out.

“I’m sure Woody’s going to make a few adjustments, but we have to react when we see what they do,” Wade said. “I felt pretty good. I think as the series goes on I’ll be able to get a lot more rhythm.”

Article courtesy of Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com
Image courtesy of the NBA, manipulation and restoration courtesy of Alex T Design

So from watching Wade over the years starting from his prime to now, Playoffs are his playground. He will definitely rev up some late quarter points and run game over the Knicks in their hometown. The series is suppose to end with at least one win from the Knicks experts say, but i wouldn't be surprised that D-wade and the Miami Heat sweep the rug right from under them 4-0. ~A.T.

Dwyane Wade Heated: The Silent Forth Quarter

For the first time in Dwyane Wade's career, he returned to the bench "shotless" in the fourth quarter.
                                                                                                                                                                 

 Dwyane Wade didn't want to comment about the offense after losing to Oklahoma City on Sunday.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Wade told reporters.

Why? It's hard to know precisely why Wade avoided elaborating further, but there's no question that this might have something to do with it:

For the first time in Wade's career, he didn't take a shot from the floor or a free throw in the fourth quarter (minimum five minutes of playing time).

No shots, no freebies from the charity stripe, not even a turnover. Wade didn't "use" a possession all quarter with a field goal attempt, free throw attempt or a turnover, something he hasn't done in the 496 fourth quarters that qualified. Wade normally uses 30.2 percent of the Heat's possessions -- or about one every three plays -- while on the floor in the fourth quarter this season, but his usage rate was a stunning 0.0 percent on Sunday.

How could that happen?

There were a variety of factors. For starters, Wade wasn't the primary ball-handler in the fourth quarter. LeBron James dribbled the ball up the floor as the Heat's point guard down the stretch, taking on the playmaker role when the Heat were down by double-digits. If Wade had taken over point guard duties, there's little doubt that he would have at least taken a shot or two as he surveyed the defense. Wade did dribble the ball up the floor on one occasion, but tossed it to James as soon as he crossed halfcourt and James hit a mid-range jumper.

Secondly, it's not as if the Heat deliberately stonewalled their superstar. Wade passed off plenty of opportunities to score, instead letting his teammates take the shot. On multiple occasions down the stretch, you could see Wade actively pointing toward Shane Battier on the wing, a signal for James or Chris Bosh to give Battier the ball for a 3-point attempt. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

That doesn't mean Wade didn't want the ball. Actually, on one particularly fastbreak opportunity, as our own Brian Windhorst noted, Wade ran past James Harden on the right wing and James failed to feed him the ball. Sure, James would have had to thread the needle to complete the pass, but that hasn't stopped James before. Wade was visibly frustrated that the play wasn't made.

Credit the Thunder defense for aggressively swarming James and Wade on the ball. On the occasions that Wade did try to initiate the offense, the Thunder used their length and activity to force a pass to a weaker scorer (this is what I call the Thunder's "Operation: Anyone But Wade Or LeBron" strategy). Also, the Thunder didn't turn the ball over very often, which is the best way to keep Wade at bay.

Furthermore, the X's-and-O's often called for Wade standing on the wing, watching James initiate pick-and-rolls on the other side of the floor. This was an issue in opening months of the Big Three era and it was striking to see the loitering and passivity come again on the national stage. Erik Spoelstra has made it a point to limit his play calls and emphasize improvisational and free-flowing basketball this season. This is the downside to that laissez-faire coaching philosophy.

To be sure, the Heat will review the game film and try to correct their late-game issues from Sunday. Getting one of the most unstoppable attackers fully invested and active in the offense shouldn't be a problem, but it was against the Thunder. One game isn't enough of a sample size to call it a trend so it's probably nothing more than a statistical anomaly.

But the good thing about a condensed season is that we don't have to wait that long to test that theory; the Heat play the Pacers in just a few hours.

Image courtesy of Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images, Enhanced and manipulated by: Alex T Design
Article courtesy of Tom Haberstroh: ESPN.com

So where will the Heat have their heads tonight facing the Indiana Pacers? How much is this going to affect their game and into the playoffs? As the "preview of the finals", everyone dubbed last nights match-up, comes to a close, you have to stop and think...Is the Heat worthy of an NBA championship, or is this OKC's time to shine...you decide, and I'll see you in the playoffs. ~ A.T.