As you would expect, Dwyane Wade said the bruised hip (that’s what it is being called officially) he suffered in the first quarter of Game 5 wouldn’t matter come Sunday and a must-win Game 6 for Miami.
“No problem, I’ll be good for Game 6,” Wade said in his post-game press conference, broadcast on NBA TV.
As you would expect, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was more cautious.
“We’ll have to see how he responds tomorrow,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game. “When he was able to sweat and keep it warm he was fine.
“Fortunately, we have an extra day and we’ll see if that’s enough.”
It probably will be. Even though Wade conceded he was not 100 percent after he came back from the locker room twice from getter treatment he played well. He was 6-of-9 shooting for 15 points with six trips to the line after the injury. It didn’t seem to slow him as he drove both ways and hit some impressive shots, including a little fadeaway over Tyson Chandler’s outstretched arm.
It wasn’t enough, the Heat lost 112-103 and now trail 3-2 in the series, which now heads back to Miami.
The injury happened with 4:01 left in the first quarter. Wade drove the lane and Brian Cardinal stepped in to try and take the charge and they had a pretty physical collision. Cardinal was called for blocking, although that was a pretty borderline play.
Wade was clearly injured and as grimaced immediately. He tried to play through it was within a minutes was on the sidelines then headed back to the locker room for treatment. He played 8:52 of the second quarter but the injury tightened up at half time and he did not come out with the team to start the second half. When he was inserted into the game with 4:33 left in the third quarter he did not come out the rest of the way.
Wade refused to talk about the injury post game, refused to talk about how it did or didn’t impact his game.
“It was unfortunate I had to leave the game, but I came back and I finished it,” Wade said.
He’ll need to play through whatever pain there is Sunday and play well, or it is the Heat that will be finished.
