Hyde: Wade’s final goodbye
With playoffs uncertain, Heat star has 4 home games left.
I thought what every sports fan in South Florida should think after watching Ichiro Suzuki run in from right field one last time to a standing ovation in Japan, tipping his hat, tapping his chest and hugging his teammates:
How many more games for Dwyane Wade?
One Last Dance is down to One Last Stanza, folks.
Four home games. That’s it. That’s all the Heat regular season has left. That’s all Wade has left.
Even if it looks as if the Heat have found some formula in recent days, the playof offs remain an uncertain destination.
So consider this the snooze-button alarm to remind you the end isn’t near, it’s here. And, as Ichiro’s goodbye showed, sports legends often get a send-off like no other, and it’s a participation sport for those in the building with the emotion so complete even hardened teammates are wiping tears.
All year long, Wade has been saying goodbye to places with some regular staples. The opponent’s praise (Wednesday’s opponent, San Antonio, released a video Wednesday of him beating Spurs through the years). The jersey exchange (besides the photoop one with DeMar DeRozan, the Spurs packed a bag of departed stars Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker).
There’s typically some heartfelt moment too that simultaneously boggles the mind and tells you the reach Wade.
“I named my kid after you, bro,” a fan in Oklahoma City said to Wade after the game as he signed some autographs. “His name’s Dwyane Wade Williams …”
“This is love!” Wade wrote on Instagram to a video of their exchange.
But what has added to the love of this seasonlong goodbye is a remarkable surprise amid the hugfests and jersey exchanges: Wade is playing the best ball he has in a long while.
He played an in-his-prime 33 minutes and scored 25 points in the win at Oklahoma City, followed by a 20-minute, 11-point game in San Antonio, where he made the two biggest plays of the night.
The first was a left-handed bank shot that doused a Spurs rally with 1 minute, 23 seconds left in the game. Then, with 9.2 seconds left, he poked the ball away from DeRozan in a three-point game to seal the win.
Such Hallmark moments are the greatness of this goodbye. The one at the top, that miracle bank shot to beat Golden State at the buzzer, might be the cherry on top of his full career.
The good and bad news is that Wade is often the Heat’s best player on the court. At 36. As he’s waving goodbye.
That’s led to the perfect undercurrent to this last season: People saying he should play another year or two.
Wade chuckles when asked, as he has been a few times, and delivers a dramatic, “N-o-o-o.”
The mere issue tells you this is the perfect time for him to leave. Any performer knows to leave them wanting some more.
Who at this point doesn’t think Wade could play another year? Besides Wade, evidently.
Any great player knows when it’s time to go. Dan Marino, the only other player on Wade’s level in South Florida, knew it when his bionic arm remained strong but his aging legs were shot.
Ichiro, who passed through here for a wonderful two years with the Marlins, knew it at some point last season and was given a homeland goodbye as Seattle opened its season in Japan.
Wade no doubt squeezed every drop from his body through preparation, motivation and dedicated work for this season. He’s doing a Benjamin Button act some nights in appearing to be a younger version of himself.
Greats are capable of mustering that up again at times, but they know the old magic is just that. Wade has delivered a final season full of magic to make himself proud and his fans delighted.
Now it’s down to four home games, including the April 9 tearfest against Philadelphia. He called it One Last Dance in announcing his return last summer. Here’s a wake-up call for everyone numbed by the nightly goodbyes in other towns.
The final stanza is here.