It wasn’t as easy as in game 2 and the Heat did battle for the lead till the fourth quarter, but the quality and talent they possess in Philly’s key positions, especially Dwyane Wade (32-10-8) and LeBron James (24-15-6) just wins it for them every time. The Sixers are competing, but not enough to grab a win, as the 3-0 series scoreline indicates.
Dwyane Wade was a combined 31 points in the first two games, suffering from getting most of the attention from Doug Collins’ guys and a migrane, clearly limiting him. No more in game 3. Despite the extra focus that the Philly defense put on him, Wade went into attack mode and finished with 32 points, missing out on a triple double. He drove inside time after time, finishing with 10-19 from the field and a perfect 12-12 from the line.
The Sixers, despite a good night from Jrue Holiday (20 points and 8 assists) and Elton Brand (21 points and 11 rebounds), just don’t have enough to compete when the Heat’s big three go for 75. Iguodala struggled again, scoring 10 points with 30% from the field. He’s averaging just over six points in the series with 28% from the field. No way the Sixers can win with Iggy like that.
And that’s where the Sixers are pretty much doomed. Their best players aren’t a center or a point guard. It’s the guys at 2-3-4. Exactly where the Heat have their arsenal loaded. And no one packs Heat like Miami in those positions. Bosh simply draws Brand outside with his ability to hit the 15-18 footers while LeBron is destroying Iguodala on both ends. The Heat’s final run came again with James coming up with the steals and assists to Wade, like this brilliant street-like dribbling, breaking Holiday’s ankles before dishing it to Wade –
Even when the Sixers do manage to disrupt the Heat, the offensive rebound is killing them – the Heat grabbed 20 last night, double their season average. The Heat out rebounded the Sixers 50-34. As LeBron James said – We’re a desperate team right now.We want to continue to play that way. D-Wade had an unbelievable game … and we’re ready to close it out. On his highlight play that sparked the run that gave the Heat a final grip on the lead – It definitely started a run for us, Luckily I was able to get rid of the ball before I traveled and D-Wade was able to slam it home. It’s a great play for us, a great team win and we’re looking to close them out on Sunday.
More on Wade’s night – His 32-10-8 made him just the sixth player in the last 20 seasons to have at least 30-10-8 on a road playoff game, joining LeBron James, Baron Davis, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Paul Pierce. With him in this kind of form and migraine free, the Sixers aren’t very likely to grab even one win in this series. The match-up is all wrong for them and Miami seems completely focused and resilient enough to deal with anything Philly have to throw at them. The Heat will leave the struggles to teams with an actual presence in the paint and a beast at point guard.
4 responses to “Dwyane Wade Back to Old Self, LeBron James and the Heat Too Good for Sixers”
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Were starting to see how running the offense through Wade is going to make Miami almost unbeatable in the playoffs. Watch out Boston, Chicago, and LA.
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