BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) Dwyane Wade’s first touch of the game was a lob to set up a dunk. His first shot was a corner 3-pointer. And his first trip into the lane resulted in getting his shot swatted away.
All three of those plays left him smiling.
Wade’s 16th and final season – his ”last dance,” as he calls it – got off to an unofficial start Saturday, when the Miami Heat broke training camp at Florida Atlantic University with their annual scrimmage. His stats, as if they even mattered: eight points on 2 for 7 shooting, with three assists and a steal in 23 minutes.
”It was cool,” Wade said. ”We’ve been working hard in practice, obviously. But to be out here today in front of some fans, getting to play in a different energy, you could see it in everybody. Guys were moving quicker. Guys were into it.”
Wade got the big cheer at the start, and his fellow 16-year veteran got the biggest cheer at the end: The final play of the scrimmage was Udonis Haslem hitting a game-winning jumper, one that gave his team a 15-13 win in the final 10-minute period.
”It’s always fun, man,” Haslem said after the final shot, a play drawn up by Justise Winslow in a time-out with about 3 seconds remaining. ”It’s always enjoyable to win a game. I still take it seriously. I still play the game at a certain level and compete, so when you have an opportunity you want to make good.”
The ”Red, White and Pink Game” is an annual Heat tribute to breast cancer survivors, two of whom were honored at Saturday’s game. Jeanine Werner is a fifth-grade teacher and a two-year survivor, and Michelle Rohloff is a former teacher and a three-year survivor – both having beaten triple negative breast cancer.
”It’s very close to us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ”We want all the survivors to know we’re right there with them on this fight and we’re going to continue to do more each year.”
There was a serious cause, even if the game wasn’t exactly played with playoff intensity.
There were plenty of moments of real up-and-down play and blowing off steam, with a four-minute span of Winslow’s third quarter perhaps the best illustration of both. He and Bam Adebayo took part in a midcourt danceoff during a time-out, and not long afterward Winslow got called for a technical after throwing the ball at a basket stanchion.
Scores were reset after every quarter, and players bounced between teams. Derrick Jones Jr. led all scorers with 21 points, Adebayo finished with 17 and Duncan Robinson scored 16.
”It’s great to be back,” Wade said.
The game ended five days of work by the Heat at FAU. Wayne Ellington didn’t play because of ankle soreness, Josh Richardson departed mid-game with what was described as a left thigh contusion. Dion Waiters (ankle) and James Johnson (sports hernia) remain sidelined to continue rehabbing injuries from last season.
Miami opens its preseason Sunday at San Antonio.
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