His Blood Is Like Gatorade

The Knicks were simply dominating the Miami Heat — crashing the boards, hitting their shots, playing shutdown defense. New York was nine minutes away from a big, bragging-rights win in Miami. Then Dwyane Wade took an elbow to the mouth. And it was on. The Heat was down 103-88 late...

By Chris Joseph

March 12, 2009

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The Knicks were simply dominating the Miami Heat — crashing the boards, hitting their shots, playing shutdown defense. New York was nine minutes away from a big, bragging-rights win in Miami. Then Dwyane Wade took an elbow to the mouth. And it was on.

The Heat was down 103-88 late in the fourth, when Wade’s lip was split after Knicks forward Danilo Gallinari rammed his elbow into D-Wade’s face. With a blood-filled mouth that required six stitches, and an inner rage that was awakened by the hit, Wade simply took over and went 7 for 11 in the fourth, to add to his 46 points, as he led Miami to a 19-0 run in the closing minutes. His 24 fourth-quarter points tied a franchise record. As Miami wrapped up its improbable 120-115 comeback win, Wade could be seen yelling, “This is my house!” “I called time-out,” Heat coach Eric Spoelstra told the media afterward. “I called one play: Give Dwyane the ball; get the fuck out of his way.” The Heat will take on the Utah Jazz this Saturday at the American Airlines Arena. Tip-off is at 1 p.m. Tickets range from $10 to $350 and can be purchased at nba.com/heat.
Sat., March 14, 2009

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