MIAMI â€" Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade â€" 2006 NBA Finals MVP, eight-time All-Star â€" began questioning himself during his shooting slump early in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Indiana Pacers.
By Brian Spurlock, US Presswire
After a talk with his college coach, Heat guard Dwyane Wade got his confidence back â€" and his shooting touch â€" in time to help defeat the Pacers in the second round.
By Brian Spurlock, US Presswire
After a talk with his college coach, Heat guard Dwyane Wade got his confidence back â€" and his shooting touch â€" in time to help defeat the Pacers in the second round.
He rectified the issue with a therapeutic trip to Bloomington, Ind., for a visit with his Marquette coach, Tom Crean, now the Indiana Hoosiers' coach.
"When you're struggling, stuff doesn't flow the same no more," Wade told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday after the Heat practiced in preparation for the Eastern Conference finals that begin Monday against the Boston Celtics. "Now, a shot you normally shoot, you say, 'I'm going to try and get closer.' Then you start questioning yourself a little bit too much.
"I would think a player like Kobe Bryant might not ever question himself because he just doesn't care. He would shoot 50 shots and he doesn't care. I'm not that kind of player."
Wade struggled, and thus, so did the Heat, having to adjust to playing without forward Chris Bosh, out indefinitely with a lower abdominal strain.
In the first three games against the Pacers, Wade shot 18-for-58 from the field (31%) and the Heat trailed 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. In Game 3, Wade was 2-for-13, scored just five points and, for the first time in 95 playoff games, went scoreless in the first half.
The Pacers crushed the Heat 94-75 in that game, and the air got thinner for Heat, with their championship expectations. Miami needed Bosh more than people thought. Wade didn't have anything left because of a bad left knee. Internal strife between Wade and Heat coach Eric Spoelstra was a problem.
It was all about to engulf the Heat.
"The biggest thing is, when I went down (to Bloomington), I got away from what I knew was going to be crazy things being said," Wade said, talking both about TV analysts and the voice inside his head.
During Game 3, Wade and Spoelstra snapped at each other in a timeout. It's the kind of exchange that happens, but not always caught by TV cameras. And because it's the Heat, the storyline was magnified: Star, coach, at odds.
Crazy things were being said, too. Maybe, just maybe, it was time for the Heat to trade Wade.
So Wade made the 50-mile trip to Bloomington.
"I got away from everything and saw him go through drills with the kids, and it took me back to when I was at Marquette," Wade said of Crean, who declined to comment about his time spent with Wade.
While IU players went through drills, Crean and Wade talked, with Crean sometimes asking Wade to impart advice and knowledge to his players. (A new NCAA rule allows college players to practice no more than eight hours a week during the summer as long as they have met academic requirements or are enrolled in summer classes.)
It was also personal for Wade, who played for Crean at Marquette in 2001-2002 and 2002-2003.
"Another cool thing for me was just spending time with (Crean's) family that I grew up with," Wade said. "His son Riley is now 13. I knew him when he was 1 when I was at Marquette. All it did was made me realize the friend, the mentor I have in Coach. But also, it just put me in a good mind state. It was just great."
Wade returned to Indianapolis with a clear mind, and the Heat hammered the Pacers in the final three games of the series. Wade and forward LeBron James were outstanding, putting together one of the most impressive two-man playoff performances in three consecutive games the NBA has seen in recent years.
In those three games, Wade averaged 33 points and 7.3 rebounds and shot 61.5% from the field on acrobatic layups and smooth midrange jump shots. James averaged 32.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and eight rebounds.
They were outstanding on fast breaks and efficient in half-court sets. The Pacers had no one who could stop either.
"Going to Bloomington was fun," Wade said after Miami's series-clinching win against the Pacers on Thursday. "I'm a Marquette guy, but I enjoyed my time in Big Ten country. I enjoyed spending it with Coach and getting myself into a different mind frame. IU is alright with me."
He rediscovered basketball is sometimes just a simple, fun game.
"It took me back to the beginning of how we started, me and Coach, and how we built the Marquette program together," Wade said of his time with Crean. "It got my mind into thinking basketball more than thinking about anything else."
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