Heat guard Dwyane Wade has missed two of his last four games due to minor injuries and his averages have been down recently.
A 49.9 percent shooter this season, Wade is 45.8 percent from the field in his last five outings. With the Heat's most difficult stretch (not to mention the most important) of the season here, Wade spent some extra time in the practice gym on Monday working on his shot. The Heat plays the Celtics at 7 p.m. on Tuesday before flying to Chicago on Wednesday. From there, the Heat plays eight games in 11 days.
Cursed with a "flat shot" (Wade's words), the Heat's shooting guard is constantly monitoring the arc of his shot's trajectory. He uses various drills (such as shooting over a net, as in this video) for maintenance.
“Sometimes when you’re shooting shots and missing shots, you feel and you know why you’re missing them," Wade said. "My shot has been flat my whole life. I’m not blessed with some of the things the other guys are blessed with, like [James Jones].
"His [shot] has unbelievable arc and it’s easy for him. So mine, sometimes I’ve got to get back and I’ve got to see it. It’s repetition, repetition, repetition and I’ve got to see and I’ve got to feel it and then tell myself, ‘This is how you do it.’"
Wade was 6 of 17 against the Celtics in the Heat's blowout loss less than two weeks ago. Since then, he's shooting 25 percent from three-point range and 71 percent from the free-throw line. But those numbers are minor concerns compared to his mid-range slump. Wade's mid-range game is broken, a possible sign of fatigue. Wade is 7 of 24 (29 percent) from mid-range in his last five games.
"Just trying to see the ball go into the basket and this time of year, especially as you’re going through the end of the year and the playoffs, you want to try to continue to work on your game all the way around,” Wade said.
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