Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘I can be the bad guy’
Heat reserve forward Winslow says he’s getting back to basketball roots
MIAMI — Justise Winslow is not here to win friends, not this time of year, and certainly not from the Philadelphia 76ers fans who took exception with his over-the-top defensive aggression against Ben Simmons.
“I can be the bad guy if that means winning,” the Miami Heat reserve forward said as his team prepared for tonight’s Game 3 of the best-of-seven, opening-round series that is tied 1-1.
Winslow said maximizing his fouls and physicality against Simmons has returned him to his basketball roots.
“Growing up I played on all types of teams that would just press and defend and run around with our heads chopped off,” he said on the practice court at AmericanAirlines Arena. “But this is more organized obviously in the NBA. It’s fun sometimes you get to go back to that and just go out there and make plays defensively. It’s kind of in my nature. I was brought up in AAU, high school.”
Reserve role
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he knows better than to even consider starting Dwyane Wade, even with the 36-year-old guard coming off a 28-point performance in Game 2. But he bristled at the notion that he is managing Wade’s minutes.
“Nothing is about managing right now,” Spoelstra said. “I think that the most important thing is he’s coming off the bench so he can play a lot of minutes. That gets managed unto itself. If we’re starting him, then I know how I am. You’re going to be looking at 40-plus minutes.”
Wade said he is not looking to back up his Game 2 performance.
“I’m not worried about encores,” he said. “I’m just worried about trying to help this team win. I’ve had my day in the sun where I needed to show you, scoring 30 or 40 night after night. I did that, we won a championship.
“Right now it’s just about being a leader and giving this team what they need on different nights.”
Not pleased
The 76ers were not happy that Heat guard Goran Dragic elected to convert a layup with 1.2 seconds to play at the end of Monday’s 113-103 victory rather than dribble out the clock.
“It definitely matters because you can just dribble it out, everything,” 76ers forward Robert Covington said. “But you know, we don’t understand why he did it. But overall, we just said, ‘OK, that gives us anticipation because obviously he didn’t care about the simple fact of the score of the game.’ They were already winning.”
Dragic’s reaction to the 76ers’ reaction? “I don’t care.”
Including the words from the 76ers’ bench.
“The first game we were down 30 and they were still running ATOs with seven seconds left in the game,” he said of Philadelphia’s late aftertimeout set. “It’s the playoffs. I’m doing everything it takes.” Simmons said he did not take issue. “The game’s not over, I mean,” he said. “I would have dunked it.”
Back home
Wade said returning for the next two games of the series to AmericanAirlines Arena should be embraced — and then forgotten.
“This is the best time for basketball fans, for basketball players,” he said. “It’s just nothing like the playoffs, man. And our crowd is going to be ecstatic, excited, especially after missing the playoffs last year and getting the opportunity to get back and let their voices be heard.
“Obviously, we cannot wait for that energy, but after that energy fades away, it’s the game of basketball and we have to figure out a way to win a game versus a very good team that we’ve been evenly matched up against all year. There’s no home advantage in this series. Each game, the better team is going to win that night and we need to be the better team.”