Cavaliers' Dean Wade Describes Out Of Body Experience Leading Comeback Win Over Celtics
Ever wonder what it's like to go on a heater in an NBA game?
"Man, it's a great feeling," Cavaliers forward Dean Wade began on Tuesday night, 45 minutes after captaining a 22-point fourth quarter comeback to beat the Celtics. "Your minds quiet, and the rim looks huge. That's all I can tell ya. ... I was hot and the rim looked like a swimming pool, so that helps."
Wade knocked down not one, not two, not three, not four, but five three pointers in the fourth quarter as part of a 20-point eruption from the 27-year-old forward that sparked an unforgettable 105-104 Cavaliers win over Boston.
The outburst truly came just in the knick of time for Cleveland, who trailed the top team in the NBA by 16 points at the start of the final stanza. The Celtics, led by a 26-point, 13-rebound effort from Jayson Tatum, quickly pushed the lead to 22 points just a couple of minutes into the quarter. For all intents and purposes the game was over.
Wade had other plans.
The Kansas State product hit the first of his five three pointers with just under nine minutes to play, By the time he had hit his fourth Boston's lead had been cut to just three. The flustered Celtics called a timeout to try and reconcile the situation but Wade wasn't done.
"As soon as the ball touched my hand, I hit a three and [Boston] called timeout," he said. "That whole time down the floor I was like 'if Darius Garland flips this back to me, no matter where I'm at on this court it's going up."
Wade was a walking bucket at that point. Yet somehow, with the game tied at 99 and 2:30 left in regulation, Boston let him leak open on the right wing where Jarrett Allen found him for that fifth and final three of the quarter to give Cleveland a 102-99 lead. Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse erupted.
"It was rocking, it really was that fourth quarter," Wade said. "Some shots went down and that place was jumping, it really was. It was awesome. Crowd was into it, like always. It was just a great energy [out there]."
Wade would add one final bucket, a game-winning dunk with about 19 seconds to play, before a Garland foul on Tatum was overturned in the closing seconds and sealed the deal for the Cavs. It was a remarkable comeback, the largest fourth-quarter rally in franchise history in fact.
On a night that was supposed to be about Cleveland Heights' own, Travis and Jason Kelce, who were in attendance as part of a Kelce Brothers bobblehead promotion, it was Wade who stole the spotlight. The cherry on top of it all, the fact that it took the Cavs overcoming a 22-point deficit to get it done.
It sure takes a lot to upstage Taylor Swift's boyfriend, but the lifelong Chiefs fan pulled it off.
