Every good story of a hero rising up — say, Dirk Nowitzki — needs a villain to make it work.
Last season, the Miami Heat were everyone’s villains. How the entire thing went down — from LeBron’s televised decision to the pep rally — turned a lot of fans off. There was both distaste for the team’s perceived arrogance and a sense that the Heat was destined for a title and it was not fair.
The Heat were hated, and Dwyane Wade said the team embraced that to a fault in an interview on Mike Krzyzewski’s radio show, as reported by the Sun Times.In an interview with Mike Krzyzewski on the Duke coach’s show on SiriusXM Radio, Wade says “we wanted to win to spite people” last season, the first where he had LeBron James and Chris Bosh as teammates.
Wade continued, “I believe that’s the reason we didn’t win a championship.”
Maybe that had something to do with it. I think it had more to do with a lack of defensive presence in the paint and steady point guard play, but to each his own.
By the way, Coach K and Wade are tight after the 2008 Olympics, where they bonded on the way to a Gold medal. They will be reunited in that drive next summer, you can bet Wade makes the USA squad for London.