You’re not going to believe this but there was an intelligent
question posed on Tuesday’s SportsCenter following San Antonio’s
win over Seattle in the second round of the NBA playoffs.
You’re not going to believe this but there was an intelligent question posed on Tuesday’s SportsCenter following San Antonio’s win over Seattle in the second round of the NBA playoffs.
I know that the terms “intelligent” and “EPSN” don’t go together that often these days but this one really got me thinking.
Where would the Miami Heat be right now, the question went, if it were Dwayne Wade who were injured instead of Shaquille O’Neal?
This struck me as odd. All I’ve been hearing from the likes of Bill “Sugar Magnolia” Walton lately is how lucky Wade has been to be able to ride Shaq’s coattails into super-stardom.
What a load of bull.
I think Walton’s just bent that his kid Luke is a “Friend of the Devil” … that is to say, a Laker.
You know Walton, don’t you? Once a knock-kneed NBA center and now a TNT announcer? Ex-hippy and current king of overwrought moralizing? You know, the guy who practically wailed, “O! The humanity!” during the brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills?
Forget what the Big Dead Head says. Dwayne Wade is a flat-out superstar. The things that No. 3 can do on the floor, only a handful of guys not named LeBron can pull off.
You guys saw that floater he put up and over the backboard as he was falling out of bounds the other night, right?
Nice.
In my opinion, there’s no way the Heat get a whiff of the Finals without Wade. And as it stands now, I don’t see them losing four games to anybody, even with Shaq out of the lineup. Alonzo Mourning (what a great story) is holding his own in the middle as the team awaits the return of Shaq – but what would they do if Wade went down for four or five games? Eddie Jones still shows flashes of greatness (well, at least goodness), but he can’t carry the Heat the way Wade has been able to.
Obviously, Shaq is the most dominant big man in the game and there’s no replacing him. But he’s not winning anything on his own.
Let’s face it, the Diesel’s engine has been running hard for quite a few years at this point and hoops fans are soon going to have to deal with another larger-than-life superstar retiring from the game of basketball.
But with Wade playing the role of yin to go along with Shaq’s raging yang, I could see the big man picking up another ring or two before he hangs up those aircraft carriers he calls shoes.
Yes, when Shaq was mired in the mess that is now known as the Los Angeles Lakers, it seemed like one, maybe two years tops before retirement came around. But I firmly believe that the Heat are going to win the championship this year. And as long as they have Wade on the team, they’re going to be strong.
If things continue to go this well in Miami, I could see Shaq sticking around until his knees go Bill “Touch of Grey” Walton on him.
