Spread love; it’s the Brooklyn way.
It is official; Dwyane Wade has played his final in NBA game, for now. Where and versus whom did D-Wade play his last game? Answer: Brooklyn, New York home of the Brooklyn Nets.
Wade had 25 points, 11 rebounds and ten assists in his last NBA game, which the Nets won by beating the Miami Heat 113-94 on Wednesday night to finish 42-40 and clinch the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference.
“Banana boat” was trending, courtesy of LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Carmelo Anthony commanding the cheers from courtside seats. Wade had his fifth career triple-double in three quarters. He fittingly secured it with a pass to Udonis Haslem, his teammate of 15 years who made his only start of the season.
“Coming into a game like tonight, being out of the playoffs for myself, especially UD these are tough games to play in, when you are not playing for anything,” Wade said. “I’m not the kind of player to come down the court and shoot every time, coming into the game I did not see a triple-double. To be able to do that with my teammates helped me out a lot, everybody cheering for me to do it, to be able to go out that way was pretty cool.”
Wade appeared as if he would be able to play one more season. Starting would be a stretch, but coming off the bench would suffice.
The Heat has been promoting the term legacy with the letter e in the word replaced with the number 3.
He scored 30 points in his final home game in Miami the night before. Wade walked into his postgame press conference sporting a sparkling gold jacket and gold sneakers. He is walking away with a legacy in style.
He played 36 minutes, dribbling out the shot clock the final time he had the ball before checking out with 10 seconds remaining. Who checked in for Wade for the last time? Answer: Justise Winslow.
The team came together wearing custom suits for Wade’s last game, illustrating attending the last dance party. Winslow arguably finished in first place with a custom black suit with gold stars covering the pants and jacket adding Wades College Marquette Jersey etched in the interior of the jacket.
“Just being around him and witness how he leads is special,” Winslow stated.
The Heat will finish the season, 39-43. But that was secondary to a last chance to celebrate Wade, the three-time NBA champion who was ending his 16th and final NBA season.
“It’s been amazing,” Udonis Haslem stated. “I’m happy I can be part of it any shape form or fashion, whether it can be on the court with him or off the court with him. I’m excited for the next phase of life for him.”
Haslem finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
At the final horn, it was unreal.
The Nets home court was a victory lap for Wade. He was joined on the court with wife Gabriele Union, his mother, sister, and close friends while showered with chants of one more year from fans in attendance. The walk back to the visitor’s locker room was parted with fans waiting for Wade to sign jerseys and final goodbye from Heat President Pat Riley in the tunnel.
“For me, I’m happy with this season,” Wade said. “Unfortunately for our organization and our team, we weren’t able to put ourselves in a position to win enough games to be in the playoffs, but for what I wanted for this season, I’m happy to say that I completed that.”
Wade passed Elgin Baylor (23,149 points) to move into 29th place on the NBA’s career list. He finished with 23,165.
Who did Wade give his final game-worn Jersey to? Carmelo Anthony.
Anthony helped persuade Wade to return this season, Melo didn’t play long this season before parting ways with Houston. So Wade gave his final one to him.
“I didn’t get an opportunity to play against Melo this year and exchange jerseys with him,” Wade said. “That was a missing piece out of this whole season, so everything worked out great for him being here, for me having an opportunity to give him my jersey.”
Spread love; it’s the Brooklyn way.
The beat goes on, for the Heat, the offseason. The Nets, a first-round playoff matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers.
