Dwyane Wade turns a save into one of the best passes of the season
A really terrific sports highlight usually needs to end up benefiting one player or team. That makes sense — if a play is truly amazing then it will work, and anything that doesn’t meet the point of the sport will be lacking in some way. Still, some plays — particularly those involving great passes — can stand on their own even if they don’t finish with a made basket. Sometimes the ingenuity, vision, and sheer audacity of a great pass are enough.
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Such was the case in the third quarter of Monday night’s contest between the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers, when Dwyane Wade turned a save along the sideline into one of the best passes of the season a few minutes after halftime. The future Hall of Famer successfully stole a pass from Kyrie Irving and attempted to start the fast break, but was forced to attempt a tough save to keep the play going. Wade turned it into an amazing play, though, by whipping a behind-the-back pass between J.R. Smith and LeBron James and into the hands of the streaking Goran Dragic:
Smith made a nice recovery to block Dragic’s lay-in attempt, and the Heat got no points out of the play. Nevertheless, Wade’s pass stands as one of the best of the season regardless of its result. It’s a safe bet that it was intentional, too, both because of the accuracy and the fact that Wade has done things like it before.
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The good news for Wade is that his stat line didn’t especially need an extra assist to look impressive. He finished with a game-high 32 points on 13-of-18 shooting and five steals as the Heat won comfortably by the margin of 106-92. LeBron and the Cavs struggled in his second game back in South Beach after changing teams last summer, shooting just 38.0 percent from the floor.
The win was a meaningful one for the Heat, who moved into eighth place at 30-36. They hold the same record as the seventh-place Indiana Pacers and ninth-place Boston Celtics, but the various tiebreakers have allowed Miami to lay claim to a playoff spot for now.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
