by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni
Just about everything went wrong for the Miami Heat in Indiana last night: they once again went into battle without Chris Bosh, shuffled lineups, Mario Chalmers of all people was their leading scorer, and Dwyane Wade played arguably the worst Playoff game of his illustrious career.
The Heat are now staring down a 2-1 hole against the Indiana Pacers, who increasingly believe they can take out Miami and its stars.
DWade had no answers for his miserable performance in Game 3, and no one on the Heat would admit whether or not he’s playing with some kind of injury.
From the Miami Herald and ESPN:
Wade was 2 of 13 from the field with five points. He started the game 1 of 10 and scored his first basket with 10:22 left in the game. “There were a lot of reasons for it,” Wade said. “I guess I made history tonight. It was a bad night.” Wade appeared to be playing with a hand injury, but Spoelstra, James and Wade divulged nothing after the game. “He’s too good a player to have shooting nights like he had [Thursday night],” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of Wade.
Wade is still dealing with lingering injuries that forced him to miss several games late in the regular season, and the Miami Heat guard required treatment in recent days for knee and leg soreness, sources said. “At this point of the season,” Wade said when asked after Thursday’s loss if he was affected by an injury, “no one is 100 percent.” […] “We’re not going to win a ballgame with Chris Bosh out and me scoring five points, obviously. There’s frustration in that.”
Prior to last night’s big win, Pacers forward Danny Granger said the pressure in the series was on Indiana to protect their homecourt. At this point, however, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat aren’t just facing pressure. It’s a matter of survival.
