Chapter Seventy-Three: Wade Became a God in the First World War
Compared with the glorious history of the Los Angeles Lakers or the Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat, who only joined the NBA in 1988, can only be regarded as a new army, in the 1988-1989 season, Miami players represented the team for the first time in the NBA, Ron Rosh Stern is the first head coach of the Heat team, the season, the team held high the banner of team basketball, and the whole team had fifteen players score more than 5 points and six players scored more than 10 points in one season, but limited by the overall strength, The highest-scoring Kevin Edwards was also just 13.8.
In the 1989 draft, Miami picked the team's first star with the fourth pick in the first round, Glen Rice, a pure shooter who averaged nearly 20 points per game in his career, 26 points at his peak, shot over 40 percent from three-point range, and snatched the All-Star MVP from Jordan at the 1997 All-Star Stopper.
But the Heat who got Rice still stagnated in the record, and the real turning point for the team was in 1995, when Pat Riley came to Miami from the Knicks as the team's general manager and head coach, and then, Riley, who has always been known for his boldness and carefulness, carried out drastic reforms, he used Glen Rice as a bargaining chip to get the hard-blooded tough guy Mourning from the Hornets as an interior pillar, and at the same time signed veteran Tim Hardaway, these two people inside and out, brought the team into the playoffs, but unfortunately in the first round of the playoffsFacing the Bulls, who were 72-10 that year, the Miami team had no chance of winning and lost 3-0. Although the team failed to win the championship, the glorious prospects of this team can be faintly seen.
Time quickly confirmed this view, next season's Heat is unstoppable, 61 wins are only lower than the Bulls' 69 wins and Jazz's 64 wins, in addition to Mourning and Hardaway's stable performance in the team, this season's newly traded Jamal Mashburn and PJ Brown also play well enough, the Heat who entered the playoffs defeated Anthony Hardaway's Magic one after another, Ewing's Knicks, and finally met the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals, as last year, the Heat couldn't limit Jordan at all, and finally 4:1 Regrettably lost again, Jordan won 30+ in the series against the Heat for two consecutive years!
In the 1997-1998 season, there was nothing to say, the Heat were eliminated by the Knicks in the playoffs, to say a round of history, in the fourth game of this series, Mourning, who used to play for the Hornets, and Larry Johnson tore their faces and fought in the game, Van Gundy broke out the "thigh-hugging" incident, and finally both were suspended.
In the next two seasons, the Heat met the Knicks in the playoffs every year, and the Heat were eliminated every year, and the team did not make any progress, in 2000, Riley, who was not willing to be mediocre, once again made a big offer, he sent Ma Shiben and PJ Brown to the Hornets, and traded for All-Star scoring guard Eddie Jones, but this season's Heat team was not calm, first of all, Tim Hardaway's state declined sharply, and Mourning was diagnosed with kidney disease after participating in the Olympics, Jones and Brian Grant, who is also a newcomer, tried their best to bring the team into the playoffs, but were finally swept out by the Hornets 3:0, it is worth mentioning that the best player for the Hornets in this series is Marshburn, who was traded this season, he was like a god in this series against his old club, averaging 24 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists per game in three games, and the three-point shooting rate was as high as 66%! And PJ Brown, who was traded, played solidly as the team's starting interior lineman, averaging 8 points and 9 rebounds per game.
In the next few seasons, with Tim Hardaway being traded, Mourning was reimbursed for the season due to illness, the team's strength was greatly weakened, and even the playoffs could not be entered, and the Heat at this time urgently needed a new leader to save the Heat from danger!
Thankfully, Miami didn't have to wait long!
There is an old Chinese saying that "if you lose your horse, you will not know if you are blessed", and the Heat, who had a dismal record, received a lot of draft picks, and in the 2002 draft, the Heat selected Caron Butler with the No. 10 pick in the first round. No!
In the 2003 draft, the Heat selected the little-known Dwyane Wade from Marquette University with the fifth pick in the first round, and since then the Heat has been standing in the series of the league's strongest teams, and they signed the all-around Lamar Odom in the free market that year, and the team has greatly strengthened, reaching the playoffs after winning 42 games in the regular season, when the team's Jones, Wade and Odom can all score more than 16 points per game, and the starting point guard is Ralph Alston, it is worth mentioning that In this year's Heat lineup, there is also a Chinese player - "Chasing the Wind Boy" Wang Zhizhi, this season he played two games for the Clippers and was cut, but on December 1, 2003, he signed a two-year $1.2 million contract with the Heat, and played a total of 14 games for the Heat this season, wearing the No. 15 jersey, averaging 3.1 points and 1 rebound in 7.5 minutes per game, shooting 37.8% from the field, 28.6% from three-point range, and 83.3% from the free throw line. In the first round of the Heat's first round against the old enemy Hornets, in the first playoff game of Wade's career, he sent a killer ball, in the last minute of the game, he shook the bearded Barang Davis, but rushed into the interior to make a layup, and then Wade led the team to a difficult 4:3 advance, but lost 4:2 in the second round to the Indiana Pacers with Reggie Miller and O'Neal Jr., unfortunately out.
2004 was a turning point for the Heat, Shaquille O'Neal, who had a falling out with the Lakers, traveled east to Miami, with Lamar Odom, Brian Grant and a number of draft picks, this trade brought a radical change to the Heat, O'Neal not only led the players to victory on the court, but also helped Wade improve off the court, this season O'Neal averaged 23 points per game, Wade averaged 24 points per game, and the team also ranked first in the East with 59 wins and 23 losses, and in the playoffs, the Heat used two games 4:0 swept the Nets with Vince Carter and the Wizards with Gilbert Arenas, and stood on the stage of the Eastern Conference Finals with the defending champion Detroit Pistons, seven big games, the Pistons were all soldiers, and the Heat except for Wade who averaged 26 points per game and O'Neal who averaged 20 points per game, the most scoring was Jones, with a shooting rate of only 37%, and the team was out of the game 3:4.
In the 2005-2006 season, the Heat cleaned up Caron Butler and Eddie Jones in order to solve the team's two-man problem, and successively brought in Anthony Walker, Jason Williams, James Posey, Jason Capono, Gary Payton, and these players played a big role in the playoffs.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Chicago Bulls, the opponent of the Heat, this round of the series fully demonstrated the strategic intent of the Heat's all-in-one soldiers, the Bulls against Nocioni, Ben Gordon, and Hinrich averaged 20+ per game, but in six games, the Bulls were still eliminated 2:6, Wade averaged 24 points per game, O'Neal averaged 20 points per game, Walker averaged 15 points per game, Posey averaged 13 points per game, Williams averaged 10 points per game, and Haslem averaged 9 points per game.
The second opponent is last year's defeat Nets, five games, Carter completed a performance closest to Jordan after Jordan, averaging 30 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists per game, O'Neal played badly in the Heat team, averaging only 7.2 rebounds per game, but Haslem made up for it, averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds per game, and under the leadership of Wade's average of 28 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds per game, the Heat defeated the Nets 4-1 again to enter the Eastern Conference finals.
The opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals is the Detroit Pistons who beat him last year, compared to last year, it is still a familiar taste, or a familiar six-man group, Chauncy Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tyshawn Prince, Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace and Antonio McDyes, in this round of the series, O'Neal's performance is brave, averaging 21+10 per game, Wade's performance is against the sky! 26.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.8 steals, 1.5 blocks, and as an outside player, he shot a whopping 61.7% from the field! In the end, the Heat stepped on the body of the Pistons 4-2 and stepped on the floor of the NBA Finals.
Their opponent was the Dallas Mavericks, who swept Paul Gasol's Grizzlies 4-0 in the playoffs, had the last laugh in the Bull-Horse Battle in this round, and then defeated the Suns with Steve Nash in the Western Conference Finals to meet the Heat in the Finals.
This year's Mavericks have Dirk Nowitzki, who can score 27 points in the regular season, Jason Terry, the "jet" who is crazy and scared to death, and Josh Howard, who looks funny, Jason Starkhouse, who is still at the end of his career, Eric Damppier, the second center in the West, and Devin Harris, who is known as the fastest dribbling runner in the NBA. With reasonable configuration and their own duties, the Mavericks of this period are an inexplicable team.
In the first game of the playoffs, the Heat lost 80-90, and the Heat almost caught up for a whole game, but in the last quarter, the Mavericks played a wave of 12:20 attack waves, completely killing the game, and Jet Terry soared in this game, scoring 32 points on 13-of-18 shooting!
The second-longest Mavericks lost again at 85:99, and the Heat were beaten without a backhand, and by the end of the third quarter, they had fallen behind by a full 24 points! Nowitzki had 26 points and 16 rebounds on 8-of-16 shooting, Stackhouse contributed 19 points off the bench, and the Heat's Wade hit just six of 19 shots and had 23 points and eight rebounds, and O'Neal was completely limited by Dampier with five points and six rebounds, and the latter had six points and 13 rebounds.
Two unscathing wins in a row made the Mavericks feel like they could start celebrating the championship early, but they overlooked one person, and that was Dwayne Wade, and at this point, he started to explode! It is no exaggeration to say that in the four games after Wade, only the former Jordan can be compared!
In the third game, both teams played extremely close, with 1.4 seconds left in the game, the Heat only led by 2 points, but the ball was owned by the Mavericks, and the game was dragged into overtime after the offense, and even the possibility of a stunner, but Wade let this possibility be stifled in the cradle, he stole Nowitzki's ball, and won the game with difficulty, and finally in this game Wade shot 14 of 26 from the field, scoring 42 points and 13 rebounds! With O'Neal's 16 points, the team's second-highest score, Wade almost single-handedly led the team to victory!
In the fourth game, the Heat won 98:74, and the Mavericks rout in the fourth quarter, scoring only 7 points in a single quarter, and no one on the team could score more than 20 points! Welter made 13 of 23 shots and scored 36 points again! In addition to Wade, Posey also played at a good level, scoring a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes.
The game is here, the big score of the two sides is 2:2 draw, so the fifth game of the battle of Tianwang Mountain is very meaningful in the fourth quarter, in the overtime fight to the last second of the game to decide the winner, in the last minute of the game, O'Neal fouled Dampier, who made two free throws to help the Mavericks lead by 1 point at 98:97, and then Antoine Walker shot iron, Josh Howard grabbed this vital defensive rebound, O'Neal was forced to foul, but to the surprise, Josh, who shot 77% of his career free throws, missed two free throws at such a critical moment! Then Gary Payton scored two points, 99:98, the Heat led by one point, and there were less than 10 seconds left before the end of the game, who knew that Nowitzki then made a mid-range shot to lead the Mavericks to overtake the score again, and there were only 1.7 seconds left before the end of the game! At the critical moment, Wade stood up, resolutely broke through the interior line after holding the ball, causing Nowitzki's foul, and then Wade withstood huge pressure and hit both free throws, leading the Heat to lead by one point and win the game, Wade scored 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, and scored 43 points in the whole game!
In the last game, Game 6 of the Finals, the Mavericks were standing on the edge of the cliff, the whole team fought hard, Nowitzki scored 29 points, but this was not the highest score of the game, the highest score was Wade's 36 points, he hit 10 of his 18 shots in the game, including 11 points in the crucial fourth quarter! In the case of O'Neal, Walker, and Williams not playing well, they once again took away the victory of the game by themselves!
Six games, 4:2 Heat is the best team of the year, And Wade, who averaged 34.7 points per game, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.7 steals and 1.0 blocks, deserved to become FMVP, in fact, in the finals, O'Neal averaged only 13 points per game, Walker scored 14 points at the same time, the shooting rate was less than forty percent, Wade, O'Neal, Walker These three people are the only people who can score more than doubles, to put it bluntly, the first championship trophy in the history of the Heat team belongs to Wade completely! This is the first time that the most valuable trophy has been awarded to someone else in the Grand Final of the Big Shark O'Neill's victory, and in fact, O'Neill is convinced of the result!
In the season after winning the championship, O'Neal's state declined and injuries were frequent, Wade also began to suffer from injuries, and the team's record was greatly affected, although they stumbled all the way to the playoffs, but they were swept out by the Chicago Bulls in the first round, and next season, the team still has no signs of recovery. With O'Neal as a chip in exchange for "hacker" Sean Marion from the Suns, the Heat only won 15 games in the whole season! And at this time, it is only the second season that the Heat have won the championship!
From the perspective of Shi Zhuge Liang, do you think Riley is rotten? You're wrong, he's playing a big game!
In the 2008-2009 season, the Heat took Michael Beasley, who had good ball skills but was in trouble off the court, in the draft, and then swapped Marion with O'Neal Jr., who only had one year left on his contract, and Wade was crowned the scoring champion of the season this year, and the team also reached the playoffs, but lost in the first round after seven games with the Atlanta Hawks, Wade contributed an average of 30+5+5 per game.
In the 2009-2010 season, the Heat once again swallowed Quentin Richardson's short contract worth nearly 10 million, and the team entered the playoffs with the fifth place in the East, and lost five games in the first round against the Boston Celtics, who successfully formed the Big Three, Wade once again became a lone hero, averaging 33.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 6.8 assists per game.
In the middle of the season, Riley's big chess gradually opened, stunned everyone in the league, he cleaned up O'Neal Jr.'s contract worth $23.02 million, Richardson's contract worth $9.35 million, Beasley's contract of $4.64 million, James Jones's contract worth $4.32 million, and through the method of pouring chicken soup, Haslem, who could have taken $7.45 million, only signed $3.5 million, clearing up a lot of salary space, who is he doing this for?
The answer soon emerged.
On July 8, 2011, James announced on "Decision 1" that he was going to bring talent to Miami, and the sports world was in an uproar, and at the same time, he was also impressed by Riley's "god operator", because before James announced his joining the Heat, the Raptors' star Chris Bosh, who had a hairstyle that killed Matt, also announced that he would join the Heat! In an instant, the Heat have become a new Big Three that matches or even surpasses the Celtics!
This season, the Heat are aiming for a championship, opening the door to another brilliant Heat achievement!
PS: Can't help but talk about the impact of James joining the Heat.
James's "Decision 1" made him suffer from the verbal criticism of people from all walks of life in sports, putting aside the feelings of local fans in Cleveland, James was the pride of heaven at that time, and was cultivated as Jordan's heir, but he took the initiative to change teams in the year of play, so that his historical status received the first impact, great such as Jordan, Kobe, Pierce and even Iverson, all from the beginning to the end at his peak, like Iverson was traded by the team There is no way, after all, it is not his subjective sense of "running away"!
Before the Big Three of the Heat, the Celtics also formed the Big Three of Pierce, Ray Allen, and Garnett, but before that, Pierce didn't talk about it, Garnett stayed in the Timberwolves for twelve years, and Ray Allen also stayed in the Bucks and the SuperSonics for twelve years, although they changed teams halfway, but they have always been the tactical core of the team, and the team management brought in reinforcements to help Allen, and James stayed in Cleveland for seven years, seven years, compared to those players who have won many honors in a certain team, It was just an entry-level playing time, and at this time, the league at this time, including the previous league history, had never had such a good player in his playing year take the initiative to throw his arms to other teams, and that was the year when a word began to become popular - "hugging the thigh".
Jordan has a well-known and deeply meaningful quote about this, "IwouldnothavecalledLarryandMagicandsaylet'splaytogether, Iwantedtobeatthem (I would never call Bird or Johnson and tell them, let's play together, I just think about how to beat them.)" )”