After beating the Trailblazers on Sunday, the Miami HEAT are sitting in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference. The team seems to be learning many lessons, and one of the most important is how to enjoy each other’s success. Wade and Bosh seem to be trusting their teammates more. After the game was over, Wade admitted that his minutes might be low, but he’s happy.
“I never thought I’d be happy playing 27 minutes a game, but it feels great!”
Most superstar players want to be in the game all the time, but Wade is embracing what’s happening to the team. Everyone knows the team is still his. He and Chris Bosh are the clear leaders of the team, and playing less minutes doesn’t take anything away from that. If anything, it’s helping his stay healthy down the stretch.
Who would’ve ever thought that the HEAT could play Wade less than 30 minutes just about every game and still be contending to make it back to the Eastern Conference Finals? Pat Riley’s offseason acquisitions are starting to gain Wade’s trust, and the team can no longer say they’re new.
Gerald Green is specifically becoming an asset off the bench. Green had some issues at the beginning of the season and some started to question whether Riley had made the right decision by bringing him to South Beach. Wade is definitely not questioning Green’s place on the team.
Wade isn’t just talking for the cameras either. You can really tell he’s embracing Green with open arms. Green’s family was at the game today, and apparently Wade has never met them. Before all the cameras were even on, Wade asked Green to wait for him so he could meet the family. When the team’s most notable veteran asks to be introduced to one of the newest guy’s family, that’s almost as good as saying “welcome to the HEAT brotherhood.”
This was one of those games where the HEAT didn’t start off well. On top of a 10-point deficit after the first half, Goran Dragic, who is known as one of the most mild mannered NBA players, was ejected toward the end of the 3rd quarter after he was hit with his second technical. That was followed with Hassan Whiteside getting a technical foul at the end of the 3rd quarter. Things were heating up, but Bosh came into the 4th quarter on fire. The Trailblazers Ed Davis didn’t have any answers on guarding Bosh. Five HEAT players finished with double digit scoring.
The trust definitely seems to be there for the team, and the HEAT continue their journey back to Eastern Conference dominance.
