Dwyane Wade conquers the Wizards

Mark ButerbaughNov 5, 2009

Wade couldn't be stopped - AP Nick Wass

The Wizards are reeling after losing back-to-back games to Eastern Conference foes. Last night the Wiz were crushed in Cleveland and tonight they fell 93-89 at home to their division rival Miami Heat. Dwyane Wade was sublime, clearly outplaying everyone on the court on his way to 40 points on 14 of 26 shooting. Gilbert Arenas countered with 32 points of his own, but his horrible lob pass at the basket with less than 15 seconds left to play clanked off the rim and Miami hit free throws to seal their win. Arenas shot poorly for the second straight game, missing 18 of his 27 shots.

Apart from Arenas, only Brendan Haywood [16 points, 11 rebounds] really played well tonight for the Wizards. Caron Butler grabbed 10 rebounds, but scored only 13 points on 13 shots and Andray Blatche missed 8 of his 12 shots and appears to have completely reverted to his prior self. As a team, the Wizards shot under 38% and allowed the Heat to shoot almost 49% from the field. Miami also hit 8 of 14 3-pointers, while the Wiz hit only 5 of 16 on threes. In fact, the game was only close because Washington took 9 more free throws than Miami, though they managed to hit only 4 more.

The Wizards began the game asleep, falling behind by 19 points in the first quarter as their offense couldn't buy a bucket and their defense was nowhere to be found. They fought their way back to a 9-point deficit by halftime and tied the game up after 3 quarters. The team actually took a 3-point lead at one point, but every time it seemed the Wiz were about to take control, Dwyane Wade would exert his mastery and take the game right back from them. Quentin Richardson bombed the Wiz from the outside and added 19 points and Udonis Haslem gave the Heat 13 points and 7 boards off the bench, but it was all about Wade tonight. Without Wade, the Heat are one of the worst teams in the league. With him, they are a playoff team and maybe more.

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