Heat Torch Hawks By 26, Game 7 Here We Come

“He was a titan tonight,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Dwyane Wade.

As usual Wade did a little of everything. Wade, the do-it-all guard for the Heat, was all over the floor. He had two blocks, five rebounds, and 41 points.  Is he back to his normal self?

Miami came out with a sense of urgency. Being behind 3-2 in the series, there was not margin for error in the Heat’s part. Miami fell behind only once and that was by one point. Miami saw themselves go ahead by 15 in the opening quarter. Their lead grew to as much as 30 at one time. The Hawks tried to crawl back in the game during the second quarter by getting as close as nine points, but they never reached any closer.

Wade spent two days imploring his teammates to match the Hawks’ challenge. He mentioned Beasley by name, asking the rookie to live up to his star billing. Beasley scored 22 points and grabbed 15 boards. It seems as if he listened to his captain’s orders. Before this game, Beasley was in a huge slump scoring a total of 46 points in the first five games combined. 

Now, on to game seven. Atlanta, as you can recall, lost a game seven last season against the Celtics. But, that was a complete different story. Celtics were the number one seed and the Hawks were the number 8. This time around, Atlanta has home court. 

When asked by a reporter if there is any type of pressure to go into the Phillips Arena for game seven, Wade coolly responded, “No pressure on us, we are the underdogs in the series” he also added, “We are going to come out and play aggressive [basketball]“.

Erik Spoelstra believes “We have got to maintain this edge, whatever it takes”. And he is right; the entire series have been decided by double digits. The team that comes out aggressive wins. Atlanta’s wins have been by 26, 10 and 15 points. The Heat have prevailed by 15, 29, and 26 points. 

Will Sunday be the game that everyone has been waiting for? A tight nail-biter or will it be another blow-out? Regardless of the outcome, one thing is certain, King James and his knights are watching… Waiting.  

Notes: Wade finished 16-of-17 from the foul line. Jermaine O’Neal didn’t play at all, thanks to a concussion suffered when Pachulia struck him during Game Five.