SIDELINE PATROL: Wade is unconscious
Dwyane Wade is unconscious. Wade continued a post All-Star tear Wednesday night nailing a 3-pointer with 34 seconds remaining to seal the Miami Heat’s 107-99 victory over the Boston Celtics.
Down the stretch, there is nobody in the NBA I would rather have the ball in tier hands than Wade. Not Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Paul Pierce or even CP3. If the game is on the line I want the ball in “D-Wade’s” hands.
Wade won a championship in only his third season in the league. It took Bryant four years and Pierce nearly a decade. Chris Paul and James still haven’t reached that plateau.
I remember writing about Wade when the Heat won the championship in 2006. Wade scored 42, 36 and 43 points in games three, four and five of the Finals, helping Miami come back from a 0-2 deficit.
Wade went on to win the Finals MVP trophy becoming the fifth youngest player to capture it while recording the third highest scoring average in Finals’ history.
From then, Wade seemed to disappear. He missed 31 games the next season due to injuries, underwent surgeries on his left knee and left shoulder and missed the final 21 games the following season to undergo treatment.
Well,?Wade is back.
Wade led the U.S. Olympic team in scoring this past year winning a gold medal in the 2008 Olympics. Bryant, James and Paul were all on the team as well as Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony.
He then became only the second player to record 40 points, 10 assists and five blocked shots in a single game. The prolific scorer heated up with a career-high 50 points in a loss to Orlando.
Wade then scored 24 points in the fourth quarter of a 120-115 win over New York capping a 15-point come from behind victory while finishing with 46 points.
Less than a week ago, Wade assured himself of MVP buzz when he nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a double overtime victory over Chicago finishing with 48 points.
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High school basketball ended last week for area schools when East Ascension fell to Hahnville in the Class 5A quarterfinals and Donaldsonville lost to Springhill in 2A.
I?want to thank the coaches, staff and players for a great year of basketball.
Last year, I made it a priority to watch EA play in the Top 28 tournament even though I was not covering them. Growing up, my dad took me to a lot of the Spartans games and it was exactly 20 years since the last time they played in the state tournament. My dad worked with a players’ dad on that team and we went to nearly every game that season.
My mom often reminds me that she followed St. Amant to the state tournament her senior year in tier only appearance.
My heart wanted to see both advance and possibly play a sixth time but tier journeys, along with Dutchtown, was worth it. Thanks for taking me back to simpler times