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NBA Miami Heat

Dwyane Wade Is Showing He Can Still Be the Man

By @blackirishpr

Dwyane Wade

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In sports, big money contracts often decide who the (figurative) big man in town is, but over the past few years the championship joys of sacrifice have changed that dynamic. We’ve seen it with Tim Duncan in San Antonio, Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas and even LeBron James in Miami.

Superstars taking pay cuts shifted the narrative to “the man” being minimally compensated, yet shouldering all of the blame. Yet, critics of the Miami Heat sought to change that when Chris Bosh resigned for five years and $118 million, while Dwyane Wade took another hometown discount of a paltry two years, $31.1 million.

Suddenly, Wade’s health would be the key to sustaining, but Bosh would be the go-to-guy who created the team’s success. That’s despite the fact that no matter who walks through the doors of the AmericanAirlines Arena, No. 3 will always be the face of the franchise. He’s the Heat lifer and namesake of “Wade County.” Which means that this is his team until he advises otherwise.

It’s funny because people forget that it was the same way when James was there.

Pundits argued that the Heat were still his squad until he renounced those rights and handed the reigns to the best player in the game before the 2011-12 season.

Some figured that he did so as a result of his faulty knees not allowing him to be a finisher, but as he showed last night he still has the ability to focus on dictating the end of the game because as he says (according to ESPN.com), “the fourth quarter is the only one where I can be selfish.” And his selfishness showed as he did his best Broadway closing act impression against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden.

After hitting his last shot in the second quarter, he went on to knock down 9-of-11 shots, including 10 in a row and 12 of the team’s final 15 points. It was a revival of the D-Wade who we have all come to love over the last 11 years. Now if he could only just hit a free throw and shake the turnover bug, the team would be good.

Richard Nurse is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @blackirishpr or add him to your network on Google.

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