Wade, Bosh frustrated with Whiteside in Heat's loss to Clippers
Miami sits only 1.5 games clear of the Orlando Magic in the East's final playoff seed, but with a roster fighting through multiple nagging injuries and pains, the Heat may finally be approaching their boiling point.
The Los Angeles Clippers were without their frontcourt All-Star tandem in Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan on Wednesday, but still managed to take advantage of an uncharacteristically disoriented Miami team, outscoring the Heat 59-38 in the second half and coming from behind in a 104-90 win.
Dwyane Wade contributed seven of his team's 23 turnovers in the loss, while Hassan Whiteside added five of his own. And, after the pair failed to execute a basic pick-and-roll together, Wade was seen grabbing the towering center's jersey from behind in frustration and chastising him.
"There was a lot of inner dilemmas, lot of frustrations," Dwyane Wade said to the Palm Beach Post's Jason Lieser. "That’s the things you gotta learn to get past as a team. Now it’s how do you figure out a way to stay the course, stay together and stay with it and not go the other way? That’s the hardest part. That’s the difference between a good team and a not so good team.
"It’s hard to always preach and tell guys that. Guys have to want it. We’ve gotta want to do it for each other as a team. If we don’t, this month could be awful. We could see ourselves lose a lot of ballgames in this month and be out of the playoff picture in no time."
While Whiteside's 12.1 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 3.8 blocks per game haven't gone unnoticed by his teammates, the team has been confusingly worse off with the 7-footer on the court.
And although the center has been battling tendinitis in his right knee recently, he isn't chalking up any deficiencies in his play Wednesday to the injury.
"I did what I normally do: block shots, rebound, and when I get the ball I dunk it,” he said. “It’s pretty much what I’ve been doing since I got here.”
Meanwhile, Whiteside's own frontcourt partner, Chris Bosh, delivered a wake-up call to the rest of the team, and had some harsh but truthful words for the 26-year-old.
"Hey man, nobody’s gonna play a violin for you," Bosh said regarding Whiteside. "We’re all banged up. That’s part of the game.
"I think he played well, but we needed more. You could say the same about me. You gotta get more from me. You gotta get more from Wade. You gotta get more from everybody."
Related: Heat's Winslow says Whiteside needs to be an All-Star