LeBron James puts his weight behind Dwyane Wade; Tells Charles Barkley to shut up – NBA Update
Charles Barkley has an opinion about everything happening in NBA, it’s his job to do that now on TNT. But sometimes, he pushes it just too much. One recent example of that are his comments on Dwyane Wade, the star shooting guard from Miami Heat.
Wade went through an off season surgery on the knee and had been struggling to be his explosive self on the court this season. His struggles came more on the offensive end where he failed to connect on a regular basis. Barkley has been locked on Wade for quite some time and after his 9 of 19 effort against the Washington Wizards followed by a 3 of 13 performance in a 20 point loss against the New York Knicks, Barkley had questioned Wade’s ability to play under the basket;
“He’s starting to lose his athletic ability,” Barkley said. “He’s not the same guy. I got a look at him in person. He doesn’t explode anymore and he’s shooting a lot of fade away jumpers.”
Ever since those comments though, Wade has literally erupted. In the last two games, the guard is 20 of 25 from the floor and was especially exceptional in the game against the Atlanta Hawks last night, when he scored 26 points on 11 of 13 shooting. That was perhaps the best game of the season for both Wade and the Heat and when LeBron James was asked about the whole Barkley and Wade tiff; he gave a shut up call to the former;
“It means Charles Barkley needs to shut up,” James said. “I mean, the man [Wade] is shooting 80 percent from the floor the last couple of games. That’s like, crazy, right? That’s why he is who he is. Unbelievable.”
LeBron is right to defend his team mate and friend, but the reality is that Wade is not ‘Flash’ anymore. He might not be as poor under the basket as portrayed by Barkley, but will certainly need to put an effort. Dwyane has been on and off this season, and as the age catches up, his athleticism will only lessen. Barkley has highlighted that fact, and with time Wade and James will realize that the former All-Star was right.
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