Without D-Wade, the Heat have no chance of winning. Hopefully flash is back for the playoffs, but if he's out for an extended period of time Miami will have a difficult time of reaching the postseason.By Chris Perkins
Palm Beach Post Staff Wrtier
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Guard Dwyane Wade left the court in a wheelchair in the fourth quarter of Miami's 112-102 loss Wednesday after sustaining what is initially being called a dislocated left shoulder.
"It looks like Dwyane might be out for a while," said coach Pat Riley, who returned to the bench after missing 26 games to have knee surgery and hip-replacement surgery.
Wade, the Heat's do-it-all, on-court leader, got hurt reaching in to defend Houston forward Shane Battier while Battier was making a spin move in the lane with a little more than 10 minutes left.
Wade was taken to a Houston area hospital for X-rays. A team spokesman said the wheelchair was only a procedural/precautionary measure.
Riley said the Heat is trying to arrange to get Wade, the league's fourth-leading scorer at 28.8 points per game, back to Miami "as quickly as possible." The Heat usually has players undergo MRIs in Miami.
"We're disappointed about the loss, but we're just worried about Dwyane," Riley said.
"Really concerned about him."
This is the same shoulder Wade bruised against Portland on Feb. 13, Miami's last game before the All-Star break.
In that game, Wade was attempting a layup and landed awkwardly on the body of Trail Blazers center Joel Pryzbilla, but Wade returned to the court relatively quickly.
There was no such luck Wednesday.
Heat center Alonzo Mourning had one thought when he saw Wade grab his shoulder.
"Not again," Mourning said.
"I don't know what it is. Injuries are part of the game, but it seems as though this year we've been behind the eight ball when it comes to injuries."
Miami is 1-6 without Wade this season.
Wade's immediate absence would, of course, severely hinder Miami's chances of defeating Dallas, its NBA Finals opponent, in tonight's game at AmericanAirlines Center.
Beyond that, however, an extended absence could mean Miami, which is hanging on to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, has little hope of drastically improving its playoff positioning.
"I do know this," Mourning said, "we still have enough in here to get it done."
In a season in which it appears the Heat won't stay healthy for any length of time Wade's injury, depending on its severity, would be the most crushing blow of all.
In a way, it figured Wade (27 points, nine assists), or some other Heat player, would get injured against the Rockets.
Wednesday marked the first time this season the defending NBA champion Heat got its full complement of players and coaches on the court together.
This was Riley's first game on the bench since Dec. 30.
Miami was 13-17 under Riley and then went 13-9 under interim head coach Ron Rothstein, who is now back to being Riley's top assistant.
Riley's presence, as well as that of guard Jason Williams, who was listed as questionable because of his torn abdominal muscle, made Miami whole for the first time this season.
That comes very late considering Wednesday was its 53rd game.
Last season, the Heat got what turned out to be its eight-man rotation on the floor in the 27th game.
Still, it was largely encouraging to get everybody back considering the Heat returned 13 of the 15 players from last season's title squad.
Heat center Shaquille O'Neal posted his second double-double of the year with 20 points to go along with a season-best 16 rebounds in a game in which the Heat never led.
Riley said O'Neal, who has missed 39 games because of to injury, will likely become the focal point of the offense now.
"Over the next couple of days, we'll find out the extent of his injury and then we'll go to the drawing board on what we have to do," Riley said.
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