Bring It On…Playoff Fever Getting Even Hotter

MIAMI, April 21 - Leave it to HEAT rookie sensation Dwyane Wade to not only lead the HEAT to Sunday’s victory with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists, but to hit the 1.3-seconds-left game-winning jumper that would cause the instantaneous eruption of AmericanAirlines Arena and give the HEAT a 81-79 nail-biting win and a 1-0 edge in the best-of-seven series vs. the New Orleans Hornets

“Dwyane’s performance was just one of those things he’s done all year long,” said co-captain Eddie Jones, whose humble, yet confident demeanor, is in-line with the team’s current mentality. “Every game he does something spectacular down the stretch that makes everybody say, ‘wow.’” Teammate and consistent playmaker Lamar Odom agrees.

“Dwyane took over,” said Odom, who looks forward to returning tonight with a better control of his game. “Somebody had to step up and Dwyane was the one to do it. He certainly bailed me out, and that’s what being teammates is all about.”

With the nonchalance and subdued composure of an experienced veteran, Wade himself really saw those crunch time moments as just another testament of the HEAT’s season-long ability to rise to the occasion.

“We’ve been going through up and down games all year, but we know how to keep our composure and execute our offense so that we are always in there at the end,” says Wade, who, at the young age of 22, is going through his first NBA Playoffs, along with six of his teammates on the HEAT’s playoff roster. “When Coach (Van Gundy) drew the play up in the huddle, it was big. I got excited that he put the ball in my hands, so I wanted to go out there and make him proud.”

Proud Coach Van Gundy was, as were Wade’s euphoric teammates, hardcore fans and NBA followers. But with a very long playoff journey ahead, the champagne is far from flowing.

“The guys are confident and they’re very happy to have gotten their first win, but they also understand that we are going to need to play a lot better,” said Van Gundy, who went right back to the drawing board almost immediately after Sunday’s close-call win to tweak the team’s defensive and offensive plans of attack. “They can look at the film and honestly say, ‘Okay, we need to play a lot better to get the next win.’ That’s the frame of mind we need to be in right now.”

Others can’t help but show their emotions on their sleeve. With an ear-to-ear boyish grin that he can’t shake, Caron Butler’s first visit to the postseason is fueling his high-energy and intense style of play.

“I am so excited to be part of all of this,” said Butler, second-year HEAT forward whose tumultuous road to this point makes his team’s successes that much sweeter. “But there is still so much work to be done. We know it’s going to be a battle every night, but you have to leave it all out there on the court.”

The vibe, the spirit, the dynamic energy emanating from the entire HEAT organization and its dedicated fans is something special. And while Jones looked around at his teammates in the HEAT’s practice court facility during the October training camp and said, “The sky is the limit,” it seems he was right on with his lofty prediction.