Empty the Bench

Something tells us this isn’t the kind of glorious return Pat Riley was envisioning after dismounting his white horse and resuming head coach duties of the Miami Heat. In the midst of a 112-102 loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night, Dwayne “Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8 Times” Wade suffered an injury to his left arm that could sideline him for up to 6 weeks.

The Heat lost the game, 112-102, but it has probably lost a whole lot more with Wade likely sustaining what was initially called a dislocated left shoulder, which could keep Wade out for a period of about six weeks.

You don’t need us to tell you what kind of an impact this will have on the Heat’s fortunes for the remainder of the regular season. If he does indeed miss 6 weeks, that puts his return at around the first week of April, when the currently 26-27 Heat would only have about seven games left to play. Given Shaq’s ever-soaring body-fat percentage and a lack of consistent, reliable scorers outside of Wade (‘Toine, Kapono, Posey, Haslem, etc don’t qualify), we wonder if the Heat will throw in the towel and call it a day. Does this team of aging veterans with questionable motivation after getting their rings last year have it in them to suck it up and really bust balls while Wade is out? We shall see… but our guess is an emphatic no. This is also a big blow for fantasy owners of Wade, who’ll have to scramble to replace his points, FT %, assists, and steals. Not an easy task.

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