It seems appropriate that David Stern runs the NBA like the WWE because Dwyane Wade has taken WWE Basketball to the next level.
In the first quarter of the pivotal Game 5 of the WWE Basketball Finals, Dwyane Wade banged into Brian Cardinal (The Custodian). He was okay though. He even immediately asked his teamates to help him up. He made his two free throws and then suddenly he acted like he suffered a Bo Jackson career ending hip injury. He was faking (remember Shots Heard is based on calling it how it is).
While his team needed him on the court, he was milking his pretend injury and dreaming of his coronation as the latest great sports hero of our time. He even built up the drama by calling his return to the game 'questionable.' Of course, nobody believed that he was not coming back into the game. Well anybody that isn't a stupid idiot didn't believe that anyways.
Wade did not bother to come back into the game until half way through the third quarter. The game was still close. And with the Heat down for most of a close game, he did not even bother to pretend that the pretend injury mattered.
Of course, maybe the plan all along was for a rested Wade to come back into a still close game relatively late. Maybe it was a ploy. Either way, the entire ploy insulted the senses.
Often times, the aftermath verifies the reality. In this case, the aftermath would be the post-game press conference. When Jason Terry was asked to regard Wade's injuries he pointed out that Wade was as aggressive as ever.
When Wade was asked to address the injury, he admitted that it did not affect his play and he would not regard it further. The charade had left a bad taste in his mouth. Moreover, he knew it was something of potential folklore that had only melted down into a pathetic ploy gone wrong.
Want further proof that Wade was faking? He wasted no time declaring that he would be fine to play Game 6. There was no talk of an MRI or whatever have you.
How many times have we seen Wade get touched and act like he got blasted? He has always loved the attention for the wrong reasons. His bad behavior is constantly reinforced by officials giving him 'star calls.' This time, he paid the price.
Picture 1: Dwyane Wade is always looking to the refs (and viewers) for sympathy. It's no wonder that Charles Barkley call his team 'The Whiny Bunch.'
Picture 2: When this is your self image, you want to make a heroic second half entrance and lead your team to the promised land.
