Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Punk of the Night: Dwyane Wade


Unfortunately my Pistons could not pull off a third consecutive win tonight and lost in double overtime to the Atlanta Hawks.  What’s also unfortunate is the amount of good basketball I missed tonight, including a close finish between the Rockets and Timberwolves, the NBA comeback of one of my favorite rookies from last season, Shelvin “Return of the” Mack, in a tight Wizards-Cavs game and the Heat dropping the Bobcats to their 16th straight loss.  There was one moment I caught from the Heat-Bobcats game though, and that moment is why Dwyane Wade is getting my Punk of the Night award.

About mid-way through the final quarter of the Heat’s victory over Charlotte, Ramon Sessions wrapped Wade up with what looked like a frustration foul.  Wade reacted by shoving his knee into Sessions’ groin.  Check out the video of the play here.

Notice LeBron James’ immediate reaction to the incident.  He calmly removes his mouth guard and just looks at Wade, not knowing what to say.  He later tries to keep the situation from escalating, but he never really sticks up for his teammate.  It’s apparent that he knew who was in the wrong in this situation.

What upset me most about this video are the circumstances of the incident.  Wade is in the midst of what is easily his worst season since he was a rookie.  This was arguably his best game of the season, and it was against a team that is absolutely pathetic right now.  That little swing of the leg from him was uncalled for in every way possible.  Wade has been around for so long now, and has spent most of that time being ranked among the NBA’s elite.  He should know better by now then to be so childish.

For those who didn’t notice, Wade didn't receive any sort of call from the officials during this incident.  Hopefully the league will take another look at this play and reconsider their actions.  There’s no way they can let Wade slide on this one, and that’s why he’s getting my Punk of the Night award tonight.

No comments:

Post a Comment