Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh Vanished in Game 3 of the NBA Finals


LeBron James may have taken the blame for the Miami Heat’s awful Game 3 performance last night, but his teammates Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are just as guilty. They were nowhere to be found as the San Antonio Spurs took a 2-1 serise lead over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. Per the Miami Herald: “The two combined for just six points in the second half, and four of those (from Wade) came after the outcome had long since been decided. ‘They came out in the third quarter and kicked our butt, and frustration started to set in,’ Wade said. Miami got the vintage version of Wade in the first half, but his excellence abruptly ended at halftime, and D-Wade unraveled in a dreadful second half, finishing with 16 points in the 113-77 loss. Bosh crashed the boards for the second game in a row (10 rebounds) but was underwhelming offensively, attempting only two shots in the second half and scoring 12 for the night. Wade looked like the Wade of old — not the old Wade — in a first half in which he filled the box score with 12 points, five assists and three steals. But the second half was dismal for Wade: four points on 2 for 8 shooting and no assists. And Wade, among others, was scorched defensively by Danny Green, who scored 27 points, including 22 in the second half, and hit 7 of 9 three-pointers. The idea of Green easily outscoring Wade over the first three games of an NBA Finals would seem hard to believe before this postseason. But Green has outscored Wade 56-43 in the series. […] ‘[Spurs coach] Gregg Popovich knows when we get in the paint, we’re a very dangerous team,’ Wade said. ‘I’m not mad at a lot of shots we got. We just have to step up and make them. We’re playing against one of the best defensive teams. We have to make them like those guys did.’ […] Wade got to the free throw line only twice, continuing a disturbing trend that has spanned most of these playoffs. Wade also had some defensive breakdowns on Green. ‘We got away from some trust,’ he said. ‘This was a terrible performance by the Miami Heat and we have to correct it.’ As for Bosh, his modest offensive contributions continue, at a most inauspicious time. After averaging 16.6 points during the regular season, Bosh hasn’t topped 13 points in seven playoff games in a row. Here are his point totals for the past seven: 7, 7, 5, 9, 12, 13 and 12. ‘We did a decent job of getting into the paint, but we didn’t capitalize,’ Bosh said. ‘They gave us a lot of different looks. We missed a lot of open shots.'”