Celtics can’t finish the job on Dwyane Wade

By Dan Duggan
Thursday, May 31, 2012 - Added 1 hour agoMIAMI — The Celtics [team stats] have devised a game plan to stop Dwyane Wade. For long stretches of the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals, the strategy has been successful.

But Wade managed to get loose during a pivotal third-quarter run and again in overtime to help the lead Miami Heat to a 115-111 win against the Celtics in Game 2 last night at American Airlines [AMR] Arena.“I’ve been trying to be patient,” Wade said. “They are playing me on my pick-and-rolls, they are blitzing me a lot, making sure they stay on it. So instead of jacking up a shot or trying to do something to get a turnover, I’ve been trying to get off the ball until my time comes, until I have opportunities. I’m reading it throughout the game and right now I think I’m making the right adjustments for our team to win. And that’s all that’s important.”

Wade didn’t score his first points until he converted a layup with 27 seconds remaining in the first half. He went on to add 21 more points, including seven in overtime as the Heat overcame a brilliant performance by Celtics point guardRajon Rondo [stats].

Though it took Wade a while to heat up, LeBron James (team-high 34 points) knew he could count on his teammate in crunch time.

“Always feel like he’s going to make a play, no matter what’s going on in his game at that moment,” James said. “I always feel the next play he’s going to make a play to help us push forward, and he was definitely doing that late in the game. He made some unbelievable shots.”

The simple fact is the Celtics don’t have anyone capable of guarding Wade one-on-one. It’s a tough task for most teams and the C’s are hopeless without Avery Bradley. Ray Allen and Mickael Pietrus are too slow, and Rondo, despite his admirable willingness to try, isn’t strong enough to keep Wade from getting where he wants.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers is acutely aware of that predicament, so he has loaded up his halfcourt defense to contain Wade.

“We did a great job (in the first half),” Rivers said. “We trapped him, took the ball out of his hands, made him a passer. That’s what we thought we had to do. I love the game plan. We just didn’t follow through with it in the second half as well as we did in the first half.”

Wade sealed the win in overtime with a 3-point play on Kevin Garnett with 59 seconds remaining. As Wade stood up, he had a few choice words for Garnett, much like James did in Game 1. Clearly, Wade has no intention of backing down.

“Once it became go-to time in the overtime, that’s when Dwyane’s mentally toughest,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He made some big plays down the stretch.”