Heat Wastes Wade's Performance

The Heat gave us a nice showing tonight after Zo's injury, but lost 117-111 to the Hawks in Atlanta. Wade dominated in the 4th and overtime, and again benefited from a slew of FTs (topping the most made by any player this season with 20). His final stat line showed a near triple double with 36 points, 10 assists, and 6 rebounds, but even that didn't take his clutch defense in the 4th and OT into account. Brilliant close to the game by Wade.

However, Ricky Davis missed the open 3 to win it in regulation and was generally anti-clutch the entire end of the game, allowing the Hawks to stay in it and eventually win. Tough to blame a loss on any one player but he certainly didn't do much to help our cause. Absolutely deflating night overall.

Shaq had another OK game considering his main backup was out. Too many turnovers and again a disappointing lack of lift on what few shots he took. He did have a rare good game from the charity stripe though. Daequan provided a nice clutch shot in the 4th when the game seemed to be slipping away, and Haslem had another nice performance. The Heat were without J-Will who sat out the game with a hyper-extended knee.

Now that they have to play without Zo, it'll be interesting to see what the rotation will look like, specifically at the 4 and 5 positions. Blount theoretically should be more effective in an offense that leaves him open, so maybe he'll take advantage of his extended minutes. Regardless, the team needs production from other players now with Zo going down. They won't be getting 50 FTs too often.