The Heat are currently on a six-game winning streak after beating the Wizards last night in a 150-129 win. This fixture was headlined by Bam Adebayo’s record-breaking 83-point performance.
But before this winning streak, the Heat did not look like serious championship contenders to the franchise legend Dwyane Wade. However, after last night, Wade was forced to justify himself and explain his challenges to the team in his recent comments about the lack of “buzz” in Miami.
In the latest episode of Time Out on Dwyane Wade’s Wy Network, he addressed everything about Bam’s performance and all the criticism around it, including the way the last five minutes of the fixture went and Erik Spoelstra facing criticism for allowing Adebayo to stay in the game.
Adebayo called out Wade after last night’s game for saying that there’s no “buzz” in Miami anymore. The Heat legend clarified his comments, saying they were intended to be a challenge and set a standard for the Heat to follow.
“I can tell what I said was a little personal… It’s whenever someone says something about you that’s family, you’re going to take it a little more personally than somebody you don’t know. You know what I’m saying? And so, you know, I think one of the things is when it comes to Buzz, you know, they would turn it to make it about a person. They would make it about, you know, they would make it personal.”
“My comments about the buzz is cultural — it’s about the culture… We played basketball in Miami before Shaq — there was no buzz in the city, and then Shaq came,” said Wade as he clarified that his comments were about the culture in the city near the arena and not a personal comment targeting the franchise or any individual player.
“I was out there in Miami for the 20th anniversary… I’m just like ‘damn, where’s our energy at?’… We had Beyoncé and Jay Z sitting at courtside… We even felt it (buzz) when Jimmy Butler was there — Jimmy Butler had the streets buzzing.”
“When I say it, my leadership style has always been what I learned, I respond through challenges. You challenge me, I’m gonna respond. Sometimes you need a challenge. I will challenge you because that’s why I’m the statue outside.
“I can’t score 83, that’s not my game. But look at me in the 4th, look at me in winning time and clutch moments. You’ll really be able to find me. I’ve always been challenged about winning. Not individual performances. We have lost our expectations of finals or bust! That energy. That buzz. It’s not just the players.”
“The city used to have the mindset of finals or bust. They don’t have that anymore either… It’s a buzz in the city now. I hope something I said was part of the conversation to be like ‘we gonna shut yo old a** up!’ It’s not disrespect. It’s standards. If the Miami Heat don’t want me to have standards on the players, that’s on them!
“I will always have a standard for the organization, whether I’m allowed in the doors or not, because I gave so much to the organization. I have a lot fewer millions in my bank account for that organization, I have a lot less stats on the board because I gave up what was individual and what was pushed on us as a standard and culture, and what we’re about!
“If we’re about that, I’m going to hold us to that standard. My standard isn’t the play-in! It’s not personal. It’s the standard I hold as the statue out front. The banners up there. The buzz is back in the city!”
Wade further called out the reporter who asked Adebayo about Wade on a night when he should have been congratulating him about his performance.
“The thing I don’t like about the question that Anthony — first, all wrong timing to bring that up… you don’t talk about a f***in former player saying the buzz in the city is not there — you’re looking for something.”
“I will address him like this… do your job… like I called Bam when he was struggling this year, and I gave him that bold of confidence to get his as* back on track… that’s who we are… It’s nothing personal.”
Wade also shed light on various other aspects of Bam’s performance, not just his critics.
“I was like, ‘Who is this dude?’ I have never seen Bam on attack like this… I watched the evolution of Bam’s progression, and it’s been beautiful to watch.”
“I remember having a conversation with UD about Bam, and we’re like he could be one of the greatest ever to play in this organization, and we want him to go challenge all the records because that’s what records are for,” said Wade on Adebayo’s progress on the offensive end of the floor.
“The majority of those fouls were fouls. It’s not like those refs were blowing their whistles to get Bam to the line.”
“He was getting fouled because he was aggressive, he was attacking — defense didn’t know what to do with that, and they didn’t expect that out of Bam… The rest of the game was set up from Bam’s attack in the 1Q because he had the defense off balance early,” Wade further added while addressing the criticism Adebayo faced for attempting 43 free throws last night, which is the highest ever in NBA history for a single game.
Wade slammed critics for saying it was Adebayo’s fault that he was drawing fouls in the final five minutes of the game while being up big against the Wizards. He highlighted that the Wizards were triple-teaming him, and he was getting seriously fouled down the stretch, which is not his mistake.
“That’s not a Bam problem — Bam did what Bam was supposed to do… (Bam) was like ‘I’m trying to go for the record books’… but everybody’s mad that it didn’t happen the way it was supposed to happen, but that’s the game of basketball.”
“It’s not going to look the way you think it’s supposed to look. The man had 83…you can’t go get 83 at fitness right now… I can’t score 83,” the Flash further added in defense of letting Adebayo stay in the game in garbage time.
Wade and Adebayo were teammates on the Heat for two seasons and share a relationship like siblings. Wade even congratulated him recently when he joined him as the only other player in the Heat’s history to have 10,000 points.
There was no hostility in Wade’s comments towards the Heat. Clearly, Wade is rooting for his former team’s success and not pulling them down.
