Wade driving Heat as 'loudest voice in the room'


DALLAS -- LeBron James took his talents to South Beach. Dwyane Wade's already were there.
Chris Bosh and James moved to Florida in search of championship rings. Wade already had one.
The Miami Heat labored long and hard during the 2010-11 NBA regular season and right into the playoffs trying to sort out responsibilities, obligations and a pecking order. Turns out, they should have known them -- and had one -- all along. Starting with the guy who shaped those soon after he arrived in 2003.
Dwelling on the notion that Miami is "Wade's team" as opposed to "LeBron's team" is not the point here. Frankly, that has been and is silly stuff, best left to immature teams of more meager achievements like Golden State, Charlotte or Minnesota. When the ambitions and the stakes get really high, no dog should need to mark his turf quite that way.
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No, what we're saying is that Wade -- right here, right now -- is the driving force behind the Heat's championship pursuit. And not just because he was a terrific recruiter of free agents 11 months ago. With a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven series, with Game 4 against the Dallas Mavericks set for Tuesday night at American Airlines Center, plenty of Miami players are contributing on the court. Wade is doing that too, only a little more so.
Meanwhile, he is pushing. Prodding. Scolding. Leading.
"The loudest voice in the room" is how someone described Wade on the off day Monday, and it fit. James might have the loudest game on the court on many nights, and he surely has the loudest critics. But Wade is the one reminding his teammates in no uncertain terms about their mission and this moment -- the cameras caught him chewing on James in the final quarter of Game 3 Sunday -- and what it really takes to meet it, win or lose.
This might as well be June 2006 again. Same stage, same foils from Dallas. Shaquille O'Neal is gone, though, and so are Alonzo Mourning, Gary Payton, Pat Riley as a court presence and the rest. What Miami did then, Miami wants to do again. Wade is the constant.
"I mean, obviously besides [Eddie] House and Udonis [Haslem], I'm one of the three who has been able to win a championship," Wade told reporters. "I've been able to understand there's a moment ... I don't want none of these guys for us to walk away and say if we would have did this or would have did that. If you get beat, you get beat because you put it all out there and did everything you said you wanted to do.
"When those moments are happening, I feel like it's my time to step up. ... We have eight days left in this entire season. You don't want to leave nothing to chance."
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Said Bosh: "Anytime he's going to voice his opinion, he's right. He just wants to win and he wants the best out of us. He demands it and we demand it out of each other."
Three games in, Wade is averaging 29.0 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists against the best the Western Conference has thrown at him. The numbers are reminiscent of what he put up in The Finals five years ago against the Mavericks (34.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 3.8 apg) and the threat he poses at both ends is adding to the worry lines in Dallas coach Rick Carlisle's brow.
No one likes grabbing a toothpaste tube in the middle when there are open caps on both ends. That's what a defense faces in Miami, with Wade squirting loose lately. Shade in his direction and, whoops, there goes James.
"We've got to guard each of those two great players with really all five of our guys," Carlisle said. "Hey, you change the matchups occasionally when you can to give different looks and to spell guys and give them some rest but, really, your coverages have got to be really tight, really tuned in. Your focus has got to be laser like and, you know, it's tough because they put you in some tough spots."
Not just offensively, either. It was Wade rushing over to help on Dirk Nowitzki late in the final minute of Game 3 that pressured the Mavs forward to pass rather than shoot. Instead of getting his shot blocked, Nowitzki threw the ball out of bounds where teammate Shawn Marion no longer was.
"Look, he's a tough player," Nowitzki said. "He's a great scorer. He can go both ways. He posted some [in Game 3]. He got to the lane a couple times early in the first quarter. Kind of set the tone. He was in attack mode all night long. He was great."
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Jason Kidd's struggles against Wade when J.J. Barea has been on the court for Dallas has the Mavs considering longer minutes for DeShawn Stevenson or minutes, period, for defensive backup Corey Brewer.
Of course the danger with Miami, always, is that paying too much attention to Wade will free things for Bosh or especially James. James is averaging 20.3 points in The Finals but through the Heat's 18 postseason games, his numbers (25.1 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 5.6 apg) are better than Wade's (24.6, 7.4, 4.2). In particular, Wade struggled and even looked hurt against Chicago for most of the East finals.
Not now, though.
The two have learned to share, to communicate, to play off each other, without grabbing too fast or deferring too much. James is the one who has altered his game most -- and doesn't get a lot of credit for that -- but then, this is what he craved: A sidekick of Wade's caliber, someone else to shoulder the load. Wade once had that and has it again, without ever forwarding his mail.
It has been said that James has a lot of Magic Johnson in his game, a love for making the right basketball play even if it puts the big shot in someone else's hands (think Bosh at the end of that dazzling backhanded shovel pass to win Game 3).
Wade still has more Michael Jordan in his game, whether it shows in the scoring opportunities he creates on his own (his slalom through three Mavs defenders and wide scoop shot Sunday) or in the way he jaws at his guys.
It's probably best to leave the historical evaluations to others -- that's Scottie Pippen's department, right? -- but those are comparisons the Heat can live with. And likely turn into jewelry.