Wade on backs-to-backs: 'It's not an issue anymore'
Dwyane Wade welcomes the grueling NBA schedule this season.
Part of the reason Wade missed 28 games a season ago was by design, as Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra made an effort to rest the perpetually-injured veteran to get more out of him when the games mattered most. But Spoelstra hasn't had to employ the same tactics this time around.
"It's not an issue anymore. I don't even think about it," Wade said, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "I don't even think about it that way. I won't even see how I feel. I just ... play."
Wade did miss seven straight games in November with a hamstring strain and was later forced out of another contest with a knee bruise, but Spoelstra isn't finding ways to rest him the way he did leading up to the Heat's fourth consecutive title run.
A season ago, Wade played in both sets of the Heat's back-to-back games just three times. If he plays Tuesday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers followed by Wednesday's contest versus the Golden State Warriors, it will already mark the eighth time he has suited up for both games of a back-to-back.
His play hasn't suffered, either.
From Winderman:
The seven times he has played on the second nights of back-to-back games, he has averaged 23 points on .518 shooting, compared to the overall 22.8 points on .496 shooting he took into Tuesday's game at Staples Center.
"It's good to not have what I had the last year," Wade said. "It's not even a thought of mine now not to play."
That's welcome news for the Heat, who have gone from title contender to fringe playoff team after losing LeBron James to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Miami enters Tuesday's game against the Lakers with a 16-21 record, good for seventh place in the inferior Eastern Conference.
But with teams like the Charlotte Hornets and Detroit Pistons - both currently on the outside of the playoff picture - playing much better basketball recently and closing the gap, the Heat are far from guaranteed to see the postseason for the seventh consecutive season.
Wade is doing his part to keep the Heat competitive, averaging a team-leading 22.8 points and 5.6 assists through 29 games.