Aren’t you glad our team’s superstar isn’t talking like this at this point in the season?
“This team is just better than us. You have to be realistic. I understand this team has NBA championship aspirations. We don’t have that. We’re focusing on trying to get to the playoffs and this team is trying to get to the championship. It’s totally different.” —Dwyane Wade after the Heat’s 102-86 loss to the Cavs.
By no means am I trying to bash Wade. I just want to emphasize his level of frustration with this game and the overall season his team is having.
The Heat are now 2 games under .500, 9.5 games back in their division, and looking like a team that will end up as a first-round exit in the playoffs, if they make it to the post-season at all. They’re in this mess because Pat “Gordon Gekko” Riley is determined to win a very public pissing contest against Wade over whether or not Wade is going to sign an extension, with the roster of the team hanging in the balance. Brian Windhorst wrote an excellent article comparing how the Heat’s front office has handled Wade and the rest of the roster in comparison to how the Cavs have handled LBJ. Suffice it to say that they are using two completely different strategies to try to keep their superstars. The Heat are throwing this season away so they can go balls-out in free agency this summer; the Cavs are trying to win a championship right now.
Obviously, the playing field for these two franchises is not level. Cleveland doesn’t have the allure of South Beach or a warm weather climate or a favorable state income tax structure. But even if we had those things going for us, I would be burning our GM in effigy if he looked a player of Wade or James’ caliber in the face and said, “I recognize that this year is you in your prime. Guess what? I’m throwing it in the crapper unless you sign an extension. Go ahead, blink.”
LeBron is going to do whatever he wants this summer, but I think that Danny Ferry and Dan Gilbert have to be applauded for making sure that he’s not talking like Wade heading into free agency.
As far as tonight’s game goes, there were strong similarities between this one and the last showdown between these two teams. In the previous contest, Wade went off for 30 points in the first two quarters, then added only two more after the half when the Cavs started blitzing him to get the ball out of his hands ASAP. Tonight, the Cavs took the same strategy and used it 12 minutes earlier. Wade scored 13 points in the first quarter but only 11 more on 3-12 shooting the rest of the game. He only got to the free throw line for two attempts (and made only 1) to finish the night with 24 points on a mediocre 11-26 (42.3%) from the floor.
The other similarity worth noting was Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s hilarious love of calling time-outs almost any time his opponent gets a dunk, regardless of what point in the game it happens. He must’ve done this at least 3 times in the previous meeting and did it twice in the first half tonight. Truly hilarious. Please watch for this the next time you see the Heat on TV.
Meanwhile, Bron ran the point again because Boobie missed the first half to be with his fiancee, who went into false labor. Bron’s line: 40 minutes, 9-16 FG, 17-21 FT, 36 PTS, 7 REB, 8 AST, 2 STL, 4 TO. Game. Set. Match.
We can now all go back to speculating what the Cavs are going to do with the trade deadline looming. If you missed it, there’s a spirited debate going on in yesterday’s comments section on this very topic. The major flash point is still the value of Antawn Jamison vs. the artist formerly known as Troy Murphy, who will forevermore be known on this blog as the one, the only Dino Velvet.
Win streak: 10. Days to trade deadline: 13.
-T.
