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Yes, Wade’s knee has been troublesome for weeks; Bosh turned an ankle in the series. They’re still commanded to find a way, because champions do.
“My rhythm seems off,” Bosh said. “It’s been like that the whole series.”
This is no time for rhythm, only results. The Pacers’ David West played with a 103-degree fever, a league source told Yahoo! Sports, and somehow he delivered on a night that started out with him missing seven straight shots, with his coach telling him, “You have nothing tonight” and trying to take him out of the game.
West refused to sit and played his part in pushing the Heat back to Miami for a Game 7. If the Heat are still going to get past Indiana on Monday night, there promises to be a terrific toll taken on them with the San Antonio Spurs awaiting in the NBA Finals. Yes, Boston pushed Miami to a Game 7 a year ago, but Bosh had returned late in the series and Miami gathered momentum as those conference finals unfolded. Now, they gather doubt.
Chris Andersen comes back for Game 7, and history suggests that Wade loves creating these desperate scenarios for himself – only to rise again to the cheers of the adoring South Florida masses. And yet, to watch these Heat now, it is impossible to imagine how they won 27 straight games this season. That feels like a different team, a different season.
This is a grind for Miami, dominance left far, far back in the distance. This is sheer survival now. So yes, James played the part of the cheerleading, optimist leader late Saturday night, professing a belief in his heart when perhaps a different truth about his teammates exists in his eyes.
Reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports
