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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider NBA: Dwyane Wade believes Erik Spoelstra deserves more credit for Heat's playoff run

NBA: Dwyane Wade believes Erik Spoelstra deserves more credit for Heat's playoff run

Published Sep 19, 2020 10:39 pm
Head coach Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat looks on during the game against the Boston Celtics during Game Two of the Eastern Conference Finals on September 17, 2020 in Orlando, Florida at AdventHealth Arena. (Garrett Ellwood / NBAE via Getty Images / AFP)

Miami legend Dwyane Wade praised Fil-American coach Erik Spoelstra for the way he has brought the Heat within two wins of advancing to the NBA Finals.

Wade said Spoelstra should be receiving more compliments after the Heat claimed the first two games of their NBA Eastern Conference Finals series with the Boston Celtics.

“He doesn’t get enough credit,” said Wade as quoted by the Miami Herald.

Wade was part of the star-studded trio that included LeBron James and Chris Bosh that won two NBA championships under Spoelstra in 2012 and 2013.

But the Heat’s current playoff run could be more remarkable than those championship teams with pieces many said fit in his system.

Jimmy Butler has become the Heat’s resident leader while Spoelstra has been getting the most out of hardworking Bam Adebayo, rookie Tyler Herro and Goran Dragic to name a few.

READ: Heat burn Celtics again to take 2-0 lead in Eastern Conference Finals

“Spo don’t care about the credit. He doesn’t care at all. But I mean, you look around the league. I know he’s in Miami and he has been kind of raised through it. But if he was losing and he wasn’t a good coach, he wouldn’t still be there,” Wade said of Heat president and former coach Pat Riley’s understudy.

“We know Pat Riley. We know Pat Riley is cutthroat. He would not still be there. So to be able to give him that grace period to kind of learn as a young coach, it was definitely beneficial. But he has taken that and he has run with it.”

Wade said the current run is one of many great things that happened in Spoelstra’s coaching career that started in 2009.

Erik Spoelstra won two NBA championships with the trio of, from left, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James.

“He will not get enough credit for the Big 3 era because people think if you put talent together, you’re just going to win,” Wade said. “That is not true. We had an unbelievable general to lead us to those championships and the success we had, and he’s continuing it.

“He has shown with multiple teams, with Dion Waiters and James Johnson, that team came and they showed what they could do in that second half of the season,” added Wade.

Wade was referring to the Heat’s 2016-17 campaign that started 11-30 but nearly made the playoffs after reversing the trend with a 30-11 record in the final half of the regular season.

“He has shown with multiple teams how great of a coach he is. ... He’s a great coach, man. He won’t get the respect from the outside. But from all of us who really know, he got it,” Wade also said.

READ: Has Heat’s Erik Spoelstra established himself as an NBA elite coach?

Related Tags

erik spoelstra NBA Playoffs Dwyane Wade 2020 NBA Playoffs nba Miami Heat
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