James, Wade swap togs, embrace after last NBA matchup
Only seconds remained when LeBron James picked up Dwyane Wade just outside the three-point line.
It wasn’t part of the Lakers game plan, but there wasn’t any other way this final meeting between two of the game’s greatest players could go.
Wade released a three-point shot that would have tied the score, kicking a leg up toward James, but the shot didn’t fall.
James caught the rebound as Wade sprinted at him. He threw the ball high into the air before Wade could foul him, and Wade grabbed James around the waist just a second too late, the two of them grinning like school kids. They laughed together as they stumbled toward the sideline, then Wade released his embrace, they faced each other and two of the greatest players in NBA history hugged again. They exchanged jerseys.
“It ended how it was supposed to end,” James said. “I’m not even talking about the win or the W or anything. Us matched up for the final two possessions. Him
guarding me on one end. Me guarding him on the other end. It’s only one building that could’ve even embraced that moment and that’s Staples Center. We all got a treat tonight.”
They’ve been friends for more than 15 years and this was their last chance to do this.
Led by Kyle Kuzma, who scored 33 points, the Lakers beat the Miami Heat 108-105. James finished with 28 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds while Wade, who is retiring at season’s end, countered with 15 points, all in the second half, 10 assists and five rebounds.
“It’s amazing to me that they’re still playing, both of them, at such a high level,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “You play in the NBA, it goes really quickly. They got the most out of their careers. They’re not done yet. But winning championships, separate and together, becoming two of the best players of all time. … With a blink of an eye we’re talking about them playing for the last time together against each other.”
This wasn’t one of their meetings of old, back when Wade and James were the star attractions anywhere they went.
But it was still a game they would talk about for years to come.
Wade didn’t start, but he entered the game to a standing ovation in the first quarter. During a timeout, Staples Center played a tribute video for him.
Neither team pulled away at any point in the game, and the affair began sloppily for the most part. There were moments of the kind of crisp, quick passing that Walton loves. On one play, Kuzma tossed the ball ahead to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who caught it with one hand and flipped it over to Lonzo Ball for a dunk.
There were also moments when the Lakers made silly mistakes that led to needless turnovers. On one play, after Lance Stephenson turned the ball over and the Heat turned it over on the other end of the court, Ball attempted a behind-the-back bounce pass that bounced too high and sailed over all of his teammates’ heads.
But what mattered more than the score was the history that was made.
“I would have been very successful in this league without D-Wade,” James said. “But to accomplish what I really wanted to accomplish in this league, and that’s winning at the highest level, I needed him. That’s why I made the jump. I appreciate more than I can express in words what he did for me when I went down to Miami.”
They won two championships together during James’ four seasons with the Heat. Then James went back to the Cleveland Cavaliers and won a third to match Wade’s total.
As the game closed, the two of them faced each other together one last time. Their teammates watched, some entertained by the poetry of the matchup, some with more practical concerns.
The Lakers’ plan wasn’t for James to be guarding Wade on the final shot, but James switched onto him. Tyson Chandler liked seeing that, given how well the two know each other.
“We know each other more than we know ourselves,” James said.
In his turn to defend, Wade didn’t let James go left. In James’ turn , he didn’t let Wade go left, either.
“We did it our way,” James said. “And it was a great unbelievable ride for 16 years.”