Bruised knee or not, the Miami Heat’s Dwayne Wade said the playoffs never are any fun. “Playoffs ain’t fun, man,” the Miami Heat guard said. “I’m sorry to bust anyone on the outside’s bubble. As a player in the playoffs, you have no joy until it’s over and you won.”
Bruised knee or not, the Miami Heat’s Dwayne Wade said the playoffs never are any fun. “Playoffs ain’t fun, man,” the Miami Heat guard said. “I’m sorry to bust anyone on the outside’s bubble. As a player in the playoffs, you have no joy until it’s over and you won.”Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

MIAMI — Dwyane Wade is playing during the NBA Finals with a bruised right knee, which feels good some days and not so good on other days.

So Dwyane, are you enjoying yourself this postseason?

“Playoffs ain’t fun, man,” the Miami Heat guard said. “I’m sorry to bust anyone on the outside’s bubble. As a player in the playoffs, you have no joy until it’s over and you won. If you don’t win, you have no joy for a while. So for us, it’s the grind every day as a team of trying to win the series, trying to win four games in the series.”

Wade had a decent game against the San Antonio Spurs in the series opener, posting 17 points on 7-for-15 shooting. That followed his 21-point effort in Game 7 against the Indiana Pacers.

Does the All-Star know game-to-game how his knee will feel?

“It’s only once you get out on the court, and you figure it out,” he said. “A couple of nights, I (came) out before the game, I thought, ‘Oh yeah, this is my night.’ I got out there, and it was ‘Oh no, it’s not.’ … You’re on the basketball court; you have to do whatever you have to do. You have to make some kind of positive impact while you’re on the basketball floor. If you can’t make a positive impact, then you need to sit down.

“So when I’m out there, some moments I’m scoring, some moments I’m rebounding, some moments I’m doing other things on the basketball floor to try to make a positive impact to give ourselves a chance to win the ballgame. And that’s all you can do.”

Buzzer-beater breakdown

For the sake of a discussion, let’s say referees would have ruled on the floor that Spurs guard Tony Parker’s bank shot with 5.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter of Game 1 did not beat the 24-second shot clock.

What then? The referees would have gone to video review, just like they did after Parker made his shot, and they would have ruled the Parker’s shot indeed left his hand before the shot clock expired, just like they did after reviewing it during the game Thursday.

It wasn’t like one of those plays in the NFL where sometimes there isn’t enough indisputable evidence to overturn a call.

The point: There was ample video evidence the ball left Parker’s hands before the shot clock expired, and no matter the circumstance, the referees would have counted the basket.

Gregg Popovich moment of the day

When interviewing Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, you make sure you ask the question in way that makes it difficult for him to make you look like a fool.

At the heart of it, Popovich wants to answer a well-thought out question. For reporters, it is a lesson in the fine art of asking a question.

So, this was the exchange that produced the Popovich moment of the day.

Reporter: “Can you give me a few adjectives that you assigned to David Robinson. And I’m just wondering if you would at all hesitate to invest your money with him in his current role on Wall Street with his investment fund?”

Popovich: “I have no clue what your question is or what it means, so I’ll just pass on it.”

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