The Knicks and the Spurs are set to face off in an epic NBA Cup Finals tonight in Las Vegas. Both teams have worked hard to get to this point. The Knicks first won in Toronto and then took down the Magic in the semis. And the Spurs notched an impressive win at the Lakers without Victor Wembanyama, then turned around three days later and handed the Thunder just their second loss of the season.
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For both teams, reaching the Finals will bring not only a financial windfall (every player is guaranteed about $212,000 just for making it this far, with players on the winning team set to receive over $530,000), it will stamp them as serious contenders for the rest of the season.
Dwyane Wade spoke about the NBA Cup on the latest episode of his Time Out podcast and expressed regret that his Heat weren’t able to make it this far after the Magic took them out 117-108 in the quarterfinals. He also had a laugh that his former teammate, Udonis Haslem, had to cover the game impartially when he knew that he must have been burning up over the loss.
“I was just focused on UD,” he said. “And knowing he’s a professional, he gotta talk about Orlando, he gotta do his job, but at the same time, he was HOT. Bro, I was hot. First of all, selfishly, I’m going to Vegas to do the NBA Cup. I want the Heat there.”
Wade said he would have loved to get together with some old friends in the Heat organization, but also, he just wants to see them do well. For much of this season, they have, although they’ve hit a rough patch lately in losing five straight to fall to 14-12.
There’s a lot of talent on the team. Tyler Herro is back after missing the early part of the year. Bam Adebayo is still the same guy, and Norman Powell has given the team a lift after coming over in free agency (the Clippers have also cratered without him).
In this game against the Magic, though, Wade didn’t like what he saw after the Heat jumped out to a 30-17 first-quarter lead.
“I was pissed off watching that effort … I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it,” he said. “I don’t wanna be that guy because they’re working hard, I’m on the outside. But at the same time, I really wanted them to be in Vegas, so I’m sitting there, I’m yelling at the TV, ‘Y’all don’t wanna go to Vegas?!'”
“I was like, ‘Y’all don’t wanna go to Vegas, dog? Y’all don’t wanna win this money?’ I need better effort,” Wade demanded.
The Magic were without star forward Franz Wagner in that game after he suffered a high ankle sprain two days earlier, but the Heat had nobody who could stop Desmond Bane, who went off for 37 points on 14-24 shooting.
Wade asserted that he’s used to seeing the Heat be a resilient team, but they had no answer for Bane, and that was that. “I was pissed off,” he said. “I wanna see them in Vegas. I’m mad.”
The Heat were surprisingly in the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference for a while, but their recent skid has dropped them all the way down to ninth place. They have a 3.5 game cushion over the Bucks though, and there are a whopping six teams just 1.5 games or less ahead of them.
One good stretch and they can vault all the way up to third behind the Pistons and Knicks. That would certainly make Wade happy, even if he won’t get to see them in Sin City.
