NBA AM: Wade Leads The Way
Wade Leads The Way: There is almost no chance you have not heard the stat… 11 times in NBA history teams have entered Game 3 of the NBA Finals in the 2-3-2 format with the series split 1-1 and in all 11 series the team that won Game 3 won the NBA Finals.
The Miami HEAT won Game 3 and now lead the series 2-1, with two more games remaining until their ultimate goal of winning the NBA Championship is achieved.
HEAT star Dwyane Wade lead all HEAT scorers with 29 points and was far more assertive throughout the game. He said he felt it was time for him to lead given he has been in this situation before.
“Took it upon myself as a leader to try to lead my guys by example,” explained Wade. “I think for me it started in practice yesterday. I was very aggressive going to the hole practicing. My teammates seen it. They can tell that I wanted this game, and I came in with the same mentality today. Just trying to like I said, I’ve been here before. So just trying to lead. My guys did a great job of following that lead. We were able to come out with the win.”
Wade was forcefully vocal with and demonstrative in his responses to both LeBron James and with Chris Bosh throughout the game, something he says both players have done with him this postseason.
“They know me. I understand them,” explained Wade. “If things are said to each other, it’s all in the better for the team. It’s all about winning. I want it. LeBron knew that. The things I was saying to him, I was saying to Chris, wasn’t nothing they wouldn’t say to me. It was something they would say to me in the Chicago series and vice versa. We have enough respect for each other. At the same time, I wanted it.”
“I was just trying to help them guys and find ways that they can be better to help our team be better at that moment and vice versa. They do the same to me. I don’t know if I got in his face, but I was just trying to do what leaders do and do what captains do. Step up and say what you feel at that point in order.”
Despite all of the HEAT’s best efforts the game was in reach during the final seconds of the fourth quarter.
With the clock winding down the ball found its way to Dirk Nowitzki who missed a fadeaway jump shot to seal the HEAT win.
“We have a lot of confidence in our team defense. That was a man to man defense right there,” said Wade. “It was Udonis putting his chest in front. We had a lot of confidence coming out of the huddle. We wanted to win this game right now on the defensive end with that stop. Even more confidence than we had if we were down two or tied and had it on the offensive end.”
“I was very confident in UD, understanding he wanted that challenge the last game, and he wasn’t able to be put in that position. Put him back in that position this time. I knew he was going to at least make it tough. If Dirk makes the shot, at least do his job and make sure he takes a fadeaway at the end.”
The NBA Finals continue on Tuesday with Game 4 is set for 9pm EST.
NBA Draft Notes: The 2011 NBA Draft is just 17 days away and things are starting to pick up. Here are some notes:
Burks Hurts Shoulder: Colorado shooting guard Alec Burks has dislocated his shoulder and is canceling workouts. Burks hurt his shoulder during a workout for the Milwaukee Bucks over the weekend. The long-term severity of the injury is unclear.
Word is his camp is shutting down workouts and will be trying to see if rest will be enough to avoid surgery, but there is a growing concern that Burks may be done for the foreseeable future.
The good news for Burks is he has been in to see several teams before the injury, so there is a chance a team has already seen enough to draft him, but with shoulder uncertainty on a player with questions surrounding his three point shot, Burks could take a tumble if he cannot get back in to see teams before the draft.
UPDATE: According to Burks’ agent Andy Miller, Burks did not dislocate his shoulder as reported, rather he has a bruise muscle in his shoulder and will resume workouts shortly. Miller also says any talk of Burks needing surgery is overstated and not true.
Marshon Brooks Impresses: Providence guard Marshon Brooks is also banged up tweaking his ankle in a recent New York workout, but the early word on Brooks is very good. So much so he is now considered by many to be a lock in the first round.
Brooks drew rave reviews in Chicago during the NBA Draft Combine and continues to back that up in workouts.
The big knock on Brooks is his very low efficiency at Providence, but so far in workouts he has shown the ability to score from a number of places on the floor.
Sources close to the situation say Brooks has not found his floor – a team towards the bottom of the draft that will commit to him – but there is talk that Boston loves him at #25 so that might be the lowest he goes, but Celtics sources said recently they have not narrowed in on any one player yet.
Brandon Knight At #3? There is no doubting the top player in the 2011 NBA Draft Class is Duke’s Kyrie Irving. Arizona’s Derrick Williams is without question the second-best player in the class, but the third-best player remains up for debate, or does it?
Sources near the teams with the top 5 picks say that as appealing as Enes Kanter may be and as impactful as Jonas Valanciunas may be in the NBA, Kentucky’s Brandon Knight is the name everyone is talking about.
Knight was a 4.0 student at Kentucky and continues to impress teams everywhere he goes.
Sources say he is an almost virtual lock for Utah at #3, although his camp apparently has not gotten a firm commitment yet.
Knight is only working out for teams in the Top 10, although he may only need five workouts to be drafted.
Valanciunas’ Buyout: There continues to be debate on the value of Jonas Valanciunas.
Valanciunas does not have a stated buyout in his current deal with Lietuvos Rytas, however both Jonas and his club are negotiating terms of a buyout now and there is a belief both sides will have a deal in place before the NBA Draft takes place.
Sources close to this situation say the deal will look something like this: Whatever team drafts Jonas will pay Lietuvos Rytas a $500,000 buyout, the maximum allowed under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. Valanciunas will agree to pay a percentage of his first NBA contract to Lietuvos Rytas based on a sliding scale depending on where he gets drafted.
Lietuvos Rytas is reportedly hurting for cash, and the buyout terms being talked about are acceptable according to sources, they are simply working through the language and the details.
Unlike Ricky Rubio who had a defined buyout amount in his deal, Valanciunas does not meaning Lietuvos Rytas couldn’t hold him hostage quite like DKV Joventut did with Rubio.
That does not mean there are not concerns surrounding Valanciunas, hence the urgency for both sides to reach a deal.
Vesely Skipping EuroCamp: Despite being listed on the 2011 Adidas EuroCamp roster, sources close to the situation say that Jan Vesely the 6’11 forward from the Czech Republic will not take part in activities next week in Treviso.
Equally Vesely will not work out for NBA teams according to his agent Aleksandar Raskovic.
Vesely is expected to undergo a full Combine-type physical in New York on June 17th, but will not be taking part in any workouts.
There have been cases where players have been drafted high without working out for teams, but in this case it seems odd that a prospect with as much upside as Vesely would not even host a group workout for a handful of teams, this could become a real red flag for a number of teams.
The NBA will host the 2011 NBA Draft in Newark this year, as Madison Square Garden begins a three year remodel and upgrade. Each summer a new phase of the remodel will begin, forcing the NBA to relocate the draft for the next three years.
The NBA Draft will be held at the Prudential Center in Newark on June 23rd.
Kuester Out: Last week in this space we covered that Pistons’ Coach John Kuester would be fired. It took seven days, but the Pistons finally pulled the trigger and have released Kuester who is expected to join Mike Brown in L.A. as the lead assistant for the Lakers.
{AUTHOR_BOX}The decision was not a hard one to rationalize, the Pistons’ players had given up on Kuester sometime ago and trying to make another year work was not remotely plausible.
The Pistons have started looking at candidates with Pistons’ sources labeling former Hawks’ coach Mike Woodson as the front runner, but as most teams who are looking for coaches do there is a small list of additional candidates that will get interviews.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that Milwaukee Bucks’ assistant Kelvin Sampson, Minnesota Timberwolves’ assistant Bill Laimbeer, and television analyst Mark Jackson are some of the names expected to get interviews. Spurs’ assistant Mike Budenholzer has also been linked to the Pistons.
There is a growing belief that new Pistons’ owner Tom Gores will want a splashy hire, so this process may take longer than normal. It may also be an expansive search as this new owner wants to insure this coaching hire is the last hire for the foreseeable future.
For the record this is Joe Dumars’ 7th coach in 11 years as Pistons president, so this may also be Joe’s last coaching hire too.
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NBA Chats: HOOPSWORLD has three NBA chats today, starting with Bill Ingram at 11am EST. Bill will do his best to answer as many of your questions as possible. Anthony Macri will host his weekly NBA Chat at 2pm EST. Coach Macri is a Development Coach that works with NBA players year around to enhance and expand their games. HOOPSWORLD editor Jason Fleming will host his weekly chat tonight at 8pm EST. The chats fill up fast so getting in early always helps your odds. You can always find the next NBA Chat here: Upcoming HOOPSWORLD Chats.
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