Dwyane Wade’s best shot
By Joel Brigham of HoopsWorld
When it comes to game-winning shots, Dwyane Wade’s floater at the buzzer in double-overtime earlier this month was just about as dramatic and unbelievable as they come.
“That’s one of the best shots I’ve actually ever been a part of,” said teammate Jamario Moon. “That’s right at the top.”
But that wasn’t the first time Wade’s been the savior. He’s done this sort of thing again and again and again, which is why so many people are insisting his name belongs in the MVP discussion right along with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Two weeks later, when the Heat came to Chicago for a rematch against the team Wade embarrassed with that incredible floater, people were still talking about that shot.
Miami forward Udonis Haslem, who’s been with Wade for the MVP candidate’s entire career, chuckled, “That was a great shot—probably the first time I’ve ever seen him take a runner from behind the three-point line off one leg—so I would tell you that it was definitely more creative than the other ones.”
“Just the way he did it, in overtime in dramatic fashion,” rookie Michael Beasley added. “It’s fun playing with him. You’re always wondering what’s going to happen next.”
Wade himself could do nothing but grin remembering that shot, calling it one of his better buzzer-beaters. “That was number one or two right there,” he said coyly.
“The main thing,” Wade continued, “is trying to get the best look possible. You shoot them like you shoot the rest. That’s the only thing you can do. You can’t put too much into it. Some you’re going to hit and it’s going to be amazing, and some you’re going to miss. It happens.”
But hitting clutch shots isn’t just about draining shots as the clock winds down, as Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra pointed out.
“He’s had so many for us over the years,” Spoelstra explained, “either at the buzzer or down the stretch. He hits as many, if not more, than anybody else in the league with four minutes left in the fourth quarter, when people don’t necessarily count that as a clutch shot at the end of the game. But he’ll hit on consecutive possessions with that pull-up jumpshot, and he does that time and time again.”
But Wade, ever humble, just shrugged off his coach’s accolades.
“Whatever title people give me is what they give me,” Wade conceded. “It’s not really a worry of mine. I’m about winning a title. What my team needs me to do, I try to do it. To me it’s not just about being a clutch shooter, it’s about being a clutch player. This season I’ve done that on both ends of the floor because I’m trying to help us win ball games. That’s what I’m about.”
Regardless of his philosophy, Wade has been one of the league’s most amazing last-moment shooters the last half-decade and still has plenty more years ahead of him to do more of the same. His now-famous shot in the “El Heat” jersey, the steal against John Salmons and the floater at the buzzer, is only the beginning.
And that’s perhaps the scariest thing about Dwyane Wade—he’s only going to get better.
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