The Miami Heat will be facing the Indiana Pacers in a Game 7 contest Monday Night in Miami. In Game 6 the Pacers dominated, and the Heat didn’t show up other than LeBron James and a few glimpses of Mike Miller. Throughout the series the Pacers has stiffed the Heat on offense, and they have made Dwyane Wade and several other players look marginal.
Everyone knows that Dwyane Wade is battling injuries and father time, but in this upcoming game LeBron will need help from his sidekick. When LeBron signed with the Miami Heat on July 7, 2010 he did not envision that he would have to play at this point of the season with no help.
Wade is a shell of his former self, but an injured Dwyane Wade still managed to make 3rd team All-NBA, and was selected to his 9th NBA All-Star game. With that being said the Heat will need more than the 14.5 points per game and lackadaisical approach he is giving the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Wade is a rhythm player and recently complained about his role in the offense(http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/9333733/2013-nba-playoffs-dwyane-wade-says-chris-bosh-need-bigger-role). LeBron James will can get his at any moment, so I am sure that he and the Heat will try to get Wade involved early.
When Wade’s back is against the wall he seems to play his best ball. In this situation his back is more than being against the wall. Since Wade is injured I doubt that he will go into “Flash” mode, but he has to do more to help his team. If Wade continues to be dormant on the hardwood, LeBron may have to go back to “Cleveland LeBron” to take his team to the NBA Finals.
Game 7 cannot hurry any faster and I know both teams are ready to get the game started. It will be interesting to see if Dwyane Wade or “Flash” shows up to the game.
