Wade, Heat force Game 7

Kemba Walker had the Charlotte Hornets on the verge of the second round.

Dwyane Wade didn’t want his return to the playoffs to last only six games.

In the end, it was the two-time NBA champion who managed to extend the Miami Heat’s season by at least one more game with a vintage performance in Miami’s 97-90 Game 6 victory. With Miami’s back against the wall, Wade was there to carry his team like he has so many times over his career. And the Heat needed every single play he made because of the push Walker was giving seemingly all by himself in an incredibly gutsy performance.

This was a classic duel from the two guards. Walker, who went into the game shooting 36 percent for the series, dominated for long stretches of the game. He carried the Hornets early by starting out 4 of 6 from the field for nine of Charlotte’s 24 first-quarter points, but it was the way he exhausted himself in trying to carry the Hornets to victory late that was most memorable. He scored 14 of the Hornets’ 20 points in the fourth, including 12 straight points over a four-minute stretch.

He was the offense for Charlotte, while Wade ended up being the counter to every punch. Wade had gone 56 straight games without making a single 3-pointer. In a league that has become so reliant on the deep ball, Wade hasn’t adapted and has actually gone away from that style of play altogether. He’s a 28.4 percent shooter for his career and has never shot over 32 percent from deep in a season. The guy made all of seven triples this entire season, the last one coming on December 16th.

So of …

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