Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
A new look: Wade channels ‘inner Iverson’ with cornrows
MIAMI — Monday night’s loss to the Phoenix Suns was hair-raising on several levels for the Miami Heat.
But not so much for Dwyane Wade.
Instead, there were cornrows, a decidedly different look in his 16th and final NBA season.
“I’m trying my inner Allen Iverson,” he said after practice Tuesday at AmericanAirlines Arena, in advance of Wednesday night’s visit by the Golden State Warriors.
Having grown out his hair, the 37-year-old icon said he felt the time was right for something different.
“There’s a lot of factors,” he said. “I’ve been growing my hair. I’m growing my hair to do different looks and I decided to do a different look.
“Once I got it done, I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to do it in a game.’ ”
He had thoughts amid previous experiments.
Then came Monday’s debut.
“I’ve gotten my hair braided like three times in practice,” he said, “but I haven’t worn it in a game. But I felt I was game ready, so ‘For the Culture.’ “
Whether the cornrows endure is uncertain.
“I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Slow, steady: After playing 16 minutes in his Saturday return from December knee surgery, point guard Goran Dragic was up to 22:38 in Monday’s loss to the Suns.
“It was better the second game than the first one,” he said Tuesday. “I played more minutes, but I felt good. I still need to improve, but, yeah, way better than the first game.”
Dragic said he still is not ready for regular minutes.
“Nah,” he said, “not yet, not yet.”
Coach Erik Spoelstra was in agreement there, calling this current range “the ballpark I’d like to keep him at for now.”
“But the games will decide,” Spoelstra said. “Last night’s pace and because of the zone, I think he could probably have played a couple more and he would have been fine.”
The Heat’s void at point guard could again be filled by Justise Winslow, who was upgraded to probable for Wednesday’s game after missing two games with a sore left knee.
In addition, James Johnson, who has missed the past two game with a shoulder sprain, and Rodney McGruder, who missed Monday’s game due to a bruised right knee, were upgraded Tuesday to questionable. Derrick Jones Jr., who missed Monday’s loss due to illness, practiced Tuesday and has been removed from the injury report.
Because of the return to health of much of the roster, guard Emanuel Terry, who signed a 10-day contract Feb. 20, has been returned to the G League Sioux Falls Skyforce. His 10-day contract expires Friday.
The standings: Forward Josh Richardson said he is not obsessing about the standings.
“I don’t,” he said. “I don’t know what everybody else does, but we know where we stand at. But we’re not just sitting here and just staring at it every day. We’re just trying to win games.”
Said Wade, “Coach lets us know where we’re at. We understand that right now, we’re in a spot that most guys have been through at some point.” ...
Spoelstra said better performance in the second half of games is a priority.
“We just haven’t been able to sustain,” he said. “We’ve gotten off to good starts.
“We’ve had great moments in first halves of both games and we just let the dam open in the second half, and that hasn’t been a formula for our success all year long or historically with this franchise.”