Heat Squeeze One Out

Dwayne Wade stepped into the spotlight on Tuesday night and proved why he is one of the NBA’s elite players. Wade put the Miami Heat on his back scoring 21 first half points and finishing the night with 42 points, and pulling down 13 rebounds. Both of these were career highs. The Miami Heat were down to the Dallas Mavericks 13 points with six minutes to go in the fourth, and thanks to four points from Shaquille O'Neal and help from the rest of the Heat cast they were able to overcome the deficit, and sneak away with a win. This was an all important victory for the Heat to push the series to 2-1, and defend the first game on their home court.

Game 3 of the NBA Finals was definitely a game of phases where both teams exchanged impressive leads throughout the duration of the game. During the third quarter it looked as if the Heat had made their last push for the game and for the NBA Finals. That’s when Wade made his surge. Saddled with five fouls, Wade stepped up his game and put on a performance that legends are made it. Good for the Miami Heat, but while the Heat should celebrate their new life in the series, there is still plenty of concern that should surround the Miami locker room.

Dwayne Wade had a Herculean performance, the rest of the Miami Heat, played average. Gary Payton hit the big go ahead shot for the Heat and that marked just his second made field goal of the series. Haslem did put forth a great effort with a bum shoulder. The Miami bench is still MIA however. As a group they put up 8 points. If the Heat wants to push this series the distance and make it interesting, they have to get more production from the supporting cast. They do not need them to step up with insane numbers, but the role players must be able to complete the basics. Hit the open jump shots, get to the line, and grab the offensive rebounds.

Yes, Shaq and Haslem came through and hit clutch free throws to fuel the comeback. But at what point is it simply the law of averages kicking in? Shaq went 4-6 from the line on Tuesday night that puts him at 6-22 on the series. Still want to put him on the line in the clutch? There was a reason Shaq was on the bench while Dirk was shooting free throws at the end. Outside of the outburst of points from the charity stripe, Shaq has still played abysmal this series. Tuesday night he had 16 pts, 11 rebs, and 7 turnovers. That is not what the Miami Heat pays the Big Daddy for. Erick Dampier puts up numbers like that, and he may even give you more on the defensive end. I’m not sure what is wrong with the Diesel this series, but he has yet to put forth an impressive performance. Right now he is only averaging 12 pts a game, and 8 rebounds.

During the fourth quarter he has been rendered useless. Dallas is running so many players at him and making him work so hard during the game he is too tired to be effective on the offensive end. His free throw shooting is so bad, that Pat Riley has kept him out the game in key moments. Shaquille has to become a force of at least a sizable measure if not a dominate one if the Heat want to climb all the way back into this series.

Miami took care of business last night, and defended the first game on their home court. They brought themselves back into the series, and saved the franchise from the brink of elimination of the NBA Finals. Now the Heat must take the next step. They need the entire team to play as a unit to make a big push to tie the series at 2-2. Dallas took Dwayne Wade's best shot last night, and while wobbly they are anything but out. The Heat escaped with a 98-96 win. It took Dirk missing a free throw for Miami to escape with that result, and even still Dallas had a legit look at a game tying bucket at the end of regulation. The Heat cannot expect to continue having repeat performances of that nature if they want to win out in this series. The time to step up and play like the Monsters of the East is now. If not then all this season was for not.