Battling a sinus infection, Dwyane Wade did not work out with the Heat on Tuesday. Wade also missed Monday’s practice and part of Sunday’s.
Wade attended practice, “but didn’t do anything ultra-live,” Heat coach Pat Riley said. Wade planned to fly with the Heat to Dallas later Tuesday.
Miami will practice in Dallas on Wednesday, then play Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.
“He’ll be OK,” said Riley, adding he expects Wade will have a full workout Wednesday. Wade is averaging 26.2 points in the playoffs.
“He’ll be ready,” Heat center Shaquille O’Neal said. “Just getting some rest, getting some fluids. … It happens.”
Wade scored at least 20 points in every playoff game until Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against Detroit, when he managed 14 on a day where he visited a hospital to receive several intravenous fluid bags to fight dehydration. He got another IV in the arena at halftime.
The Heat became healthier on two fronts Tuesday. Backup guard Gary Payton and reserve forward Wayne Simien were back at practice after missing the previous day. Payton had a migraine.
Riley unsure about Mavs
Riley admitted the Heat isn’t as familiar with Dallas as it was with Detroit.
“You can watch as much video as you can, collect as much data and understand a lot of their tendencies, but until you really play against them . . . ” he said.
Shaq praises Dampier
He has called Erick Dampier “soft” more than once. He has compared his own poor playoff performances to the Dallas center’s customary production. He has suggested Dampier could be dominant … in the WNBA.
He has punctuated enough insults with a particular request (“write it down, take a picture, send it to him”) that Dampier must have a full mailbox.
Yet this week, before facing Dampier for the first time in an NBA Finals, Shaquille O’Neal said something truly shocking:
“He’s done a lot to help his team get to this point.”
Has O’Neal gone soft?
“This ain’t an Erick Dampier vs. Shaq thing,” O’Neal said. “I said some things, that’s what I do. I’m a jokester, but we’re not going to base this series on that. This is going to be a nice, classy series.”
