J-Speaks: Another Game-Winner for D-Wade

For 14 of his 16 NBA seasons, future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade has authored some memorable moments as a member of the Miami Heat, especially at the end of games. He added another chapter to that legacy last Wednesday night at the expense of the back-to-back defending NBA champs. 

In the final seconds of what turned into a tight-nit battle with the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors (44-19), Wade after having his first game-winning shot attempt blocked by second-year big man Jordan Bell, Wade caught the ball and heaved a one-legged shot from three-point ranged that he banked in as time expired to lift the Heat (28-34) to a 126-125 victory, where they led by as many as 24 points in the first half and had to overcome a four-point deficit in the final 60 seconds. 

“As I was going for the shot, I saw KD flying at me,” Wade, ho had 25 points on 10 for 17 shooting, including 5 for 8 from three-point range with seven rebounds and two block shots said to FOX Sports Sun’s Jason Jackson after the win, “So, I tried to pump fake him and tried to shoot the shot-He blocked it, and all I could think about is there was a little time left on the clock was to get my foot behind the three-point line and try to get it up on the rim and it went in.” 

Wade, who announced before the start of the 2018-19 season that this was going to be his 16^th and final one registered his fifth game-winner of his career with no time left on the clock. It was his first since Mar. 9, 2009 versus the Chicago Bulls, the team “Flash” rooted for as a youth and where he grew up. 

This latest heroic moment from Wade, whose squad snapped a three-game losing streak also brought him back to where he was on the losing end of similar game-winner when future Hall of Famer and five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers beat him and the Heat back on Dec. 4, 2009 on ESPN. 

“I wondered when Kobe hit that game-winner on me in L.A…When he hit it off the glass from the top of the key I said, ‘How is that possible?’ Than k you for showing me the way. Mamba mentality,” Wade said to Jackson. 

After hitting the game-winning shot, Wade jumped onto the scorer’s table thumping himself on the chest three times. Took a victory lap around the American Airlines Arena floor and was eventually mobbed by his teammates. 

While the fans in the AAA erupted after the game-winner by Wade, some of the Warriors watched the replay of the shot that robbed them of a comeback victory. Two-time Kia MVP three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry came over to Wade offering his congratulations in their last head-to-head meeting before Wade retires at season’s end. 

“I told Steph, ‘I needed this one on my way out. Y’all get enough,” Wade, who had missed his prior 21 go-ahead field goals in the final 05.0 seconds said to Jackson. “But it was cool. I think the one thing cool for me was I’ve got younger teammates that heard about some of the things you do but don’t always get an opportunity to see it.” 

Those opportunities Wade capitalized on his career in the closing seconds include the game-winner he hit on Nov. 19, 2004 versus the Utah Jazz where he capped his 39-point performance, a then career-high in a 107-105 win. 

Wade added his name to the long list of NBA greats to have a memorable moment perform at Madison Square Garden, “The World’s Most Famous Arena” when his jumper at the buzzer beat the New York Knicks 98-96 on Mar. 15, 2005. 

He broke the hearts of the Jazz and their fans again in as Heat play-by-play announcer Eric Reid “The Heat’s house” with a jumper that bounced in for a 104-102 win on Dec. 22, 2007. 

Growing up in Chicago, Wade like most Chi-town residents saw the great Michael Jordan break the hearts of the opponent at the buzzer many times in his Hall of Fame career. Wade had his Jordan moment on Mar. 9, 2009 when he stole the ball from the Bulls’ John Salmons and hit a running three-pointer at the horn that gave the Heat a 130-127 win in double-overtime on their home floor. 

“It’s something special, but what making a play like that, you know this his last year in this building,” Curry who had 25 points on the night said of Wade’s game-winner, which represents the Warriors first loss at the buzzer in 10 seasons. 

Bell, who had 10 points and six boards off the bench against the Heat said, “He caught it, I was like [expletive]. I was like he’s going to make this [expletive] and he shot it and it went in.” 

Perennial All-Star and 2014 Kia MVP Kevin Durant, who had 25 points in the contest said of Wade’s game-winner, “I got my hand on it. That’s why he dropped it and he caught it back. I didn’t know why he was open at the three-point line but I just tried to get out there on the play.” 

“He made a tremendous play man, I mean, you don’t think about shooting that type of shot and winning the game that way. So, they played harder than us all night. They played better than us. We was able to make shots in the fourth to turn the tide, but they really deserved to win this game.” 

What made Wade’s game-winning triple even more special is that the Heat had really been struggling, with as mentioned earlier three straight losses overall; a six-game home losing streak and setbacks in 13 of their prior 18 games coming into their tilt against the back-to-back defending champions. 

A 3-9 mark in their last 12 games recently includes losses against the struggling Phoenix Suns (13-51) two nights earlier where they lost a 13-point lead in getting outscored 72-58 in the second half, including 40-34 in the fourth period as the Suns snapped their franchise worst 17-game losing streak and extended the Heat’s home losing streak to six games. 

That came on the heels of one of their worst performances of the season in their fifth straight loss at American Airlines Arena to the Detroit Pistons (31-31) 119-96 on Saturday night. 

In the earlier meeting between the Heat and the Warriors at Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA back on Feb. 10, the Heat led by as many as 19 before the Warriors came back to win the game 120-118. 

The Warriors dug out of as mentioned a 24-point hole in this contest and led 124-120 before Wade hit his fourth three of the game to cut the deficit to one, 124-123 with 15 seconds remaining. 

After Durant split two free throws moments later that gave Wade his chance to win the game, which he managed to do. 

That moment also stems from a conversation the 13-time All-Star and 2006 Finals MVP had with Heat Assistant Coach Chris Quinn about him passing up shots in that aforementioned loss versus the Pistons and that if he passed up those same field goal attempts again that he be “fined.” 

“So, I wanted to make sure that, you know, I was aggressive and I took the shots that was given to me and I did that,” Wade said to Jackson. 

Wade was not the only one that brought an aggressive mentality offensively in this contest. All-Star. All-Star lead guard Goran Dragic, in his third game back from right knee surgery had 25 of his team-high 27 points off the bench in the first half, with 20 of those coming in the second quarter going. He was 7 for 11 from the field, including 4 for 7 from three-point range and 9 for 9 from the charity stripe. Swingman Josh Richardson, who scored a career-high 37 points, hitting a career-best eight three-pointers in 11 tries in that earlier two-point loss at the Warriors had 21 points in the victory on Wednesday night hitting 5 for 8 from three-point range with five rebounds and five assists. 

Dragic had 20 his 25 first half points in the second quarter, setting a franchise single-period record, and his 25-point first half set a record for a Heat reserve. Eleven of Dragic’s points were authored in a 69-second span in the second period and a pair of free throws with 2:59 left in the opening half put the Heat up 69-45. 

The Heat led 74-59 at intermission and their 74 points in the opening half were tied for the second-most in franchise history. The Heat scored 75 in the opening half against the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 19, 1997 and had 74 points against the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 11, 1999. 

The performances by Dragic and Richardson, along with Wade made up for the absences of starting center Hassan Whiteside (hip strain); starting forward James Johnson (shoulder sprain), Justise Winslow (knee) and Derrick Jones, Jr. (flu). 

The Warriors would eventually close the gap and led for all of 1:14 seconds late in the fourth quarter before Wade went to work and eventually put the Heat in the win column with his three at the horn. 

“I’d much rather see him jumping on the scorer’s table when we’re not on the court. Deep down, it was cool to see even though we lost,” Curry said. 

Last Wednesday night, Dwyane Wade added another memory to a career resume that will land him in the Hall of Fame. He showed that even in his last season, and the possibility that the Heat may not make it back to the playoffs, all be it a half a game back on the loss behind the No. 8 Seed Orlando Magic (30-35) for that last playoff spot in the East that they will not give up on their season quite easily. If nothing else, Wade showed on this night that he can still lift his team to victory and what happened negatively in games before he can turn into a positive and use to make him better in the next contest. He did exactly that when it counted and lifted the Heat to a much-needed win against a quality opponent, who he gave his props to at the end of the contest. 

“Well first off, Kevin Durant is an animal, man,” Wade said to Jackson. “I mean, he hit every shot. Same as he did in Game 1 when we played them up there. But we just kept fighting and kept believing.” 

He added about the game-winning triple, “The ball bobbled around and everything, and I just got it, and just tried to get it up and the good Lord put it in for me. So, I’m very thankful right now. I’m a little overwhelmed right now. It’s been a while since a moment like that against a team like that.” 

Information, statistics and quotations are courtesy of www.nba.com/games/20190223/MIAGSW#/boxscore; www.nba.com/games/20190227/GSWMIA#/boxscore/recap; www.espn.com/nba/standings; www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/mia; 2/28/19 1 a.m. edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter,” with Neil Everett and Stan Verrett; and 2/28/19 2 a.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” with Casey Stern, Grant Hill, and Mike Fratello.