Miami Heat Need Dwyane Wade Back Immediately
By Jared Doyle
@outofboundsjay
Steve Mitchell- USA Today Sports
Dwyane Wade started off the season on a tear, playing the first seven games and averaging 19.8 PPG, 6.4 APG and 3.5 RPG on an efficient 51 percent shooting from the field and 46 percent from beyond the arc. This is also when the Miami Heat had a pristine 5-2 record and were near the top of the Eastern Conference.
Since Wade went down with a hamstring injury against the Indiana Pacers, the Heat have struggled, losing three of their last six games and dropping to fourth place in the East.
The Heat need Wade back immediately, and there is no denying this fact. The offense just hasn’t looked the same since his injury. Chris Bosh has struggled mightily since Wade has gone down, primarily because he is having to shoulder much more of the offensive load. This in turn has forced him to take more careless shots, lessening the efficiency of this once-stellar offense.
Luol Deng has also struggled due to the fact he needs a facilitator to get his game going, which is what Wade was excelling at before he went down.
What most people don’t realize is how vital Wade is this to this team. The Heat will only go as far as Wade goes, and right now that isn’t far. This hamstring injury has really put a damper on the starting lineup gaining cohesion as a unit, and has also forced other players to perform out of rotation, throwing off their respective games.
The one player who has seemed to excel since Wade’s injury has been Mario Chalmers, but only because he has also received a prime chunk of Wade’s minutes and has taken the opportunity to shine offensively on his own.
Wade needs to return ASAP, otherwise another string of losses could be in the Heat’s future; even worse, this team could fall very low in the Eastern Conference standings, even though its only the beginning of the season.
Jared Doyle is a Miami Heat writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @outofboundsjay, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
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