Dwyane Wade: LeBron James’ Defender

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

They’ve yet to play a single game together, but already, D-Wade is handing out plenty of assists to LeBron James.

Dwyane had a chat with the Associated Press yesterday, and spent much of it defending James’s disappointing and bewildering performance against the Celtics in the Playoffs.

Flash isn’t buying any of Dan Gilbert’s looniness about LeBron having quit on his team:

Wade said he watched every game in Cleveland’s second-round series against Boston, the team that eliminated the Heat in the opening round of the postseason. The Celtics used a similar defensive scheme against James as they did against Wade to open the playoffs, throwing a slew of challenges in the way of both.

“LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant, guys like that understand what Boston’s defense was about,” Wade said. “Their defense was built on not letting one player beat them. You either settle for the outside shot or you pass to your teammates. LeBron had one bad game in the playoffs. Other than that, he did what he could do with the defense all watching him.”

“I don’t see where you can get where he quit,” Wade said. “He just had one bad game. It happens. Kobe had a bad game in the finals. They won. It didn’t matter. LeBron’s teammates didn’t help him out that game and it made the way he played even worse. But he’s not a quitter. He didn’t quit.”

Dwyane is clearly the only person in the LBJ camp who knows anything about spinning good PR. James ought to think about hiring him to help turn the tide of public opinion on him.