Not many players can relive getting posterized and love it. Dwyane Wade has held some bitterness after Kobe Bryant embarrassed him over a decade ago. Not at the Black Mamba. But at a teammate. A year since he poured out those feelings publicly, D-Wade got to recreate that moment. Only he was not on the receiving end of it. The aftermath looks therapeutic even. Way to heal that trauma.
Props to Jesser for giving The Flash his groove back. Because of the YouTuber, we got to see D-Wade’s basketball chops for an extended 30+ minutes for the first time since he retired in 2019. First on the agenda was recreating clutch shots. You can’t have that category without mentioning Clutch Time Bean.
As the Fates decreed, Dwyane Wade coincidentally picked the game on December 4, 2009, between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat. On his way to his fifth championship, Kobe Bryant got up on one foot and hit a bank shot over D-Wade mid-air with 3.2 seconds on the clock. He nailed it giving the Lakers an improbably 108-107 win. This is not a pleasant memory for D-Wade that even Jesser told his team, “that’s foul” for including this shot in their game.
Wade was a good sport about recreating it though. They made sure the vibes were complete too. For the first time in his life, D-Wade wore the #24 Lakers jersey to imbibe the Black Mamba instead of The Flash. It took more than one attempt and it was really difficult to do it on one leg, but Wade finally made the shot over another player while Jesser failed his attempts.
After getting that satisfaction, Wade was ready to put this poster to rest. “I ain’t never trying that one ‘cuz it was normally over me. So, I never trying that one,” is how he concluded this moment.
Hopefully it now gets Mario Chalmers off the hook.
Dwyane Wade shifts blame for unforgettable embarrassment
Dwyane Wade isn’t the type to be known for his hot takes. But sometimes, his statements just go there. For instance, the most recent example is when he put himself in the Michael Jordan plane (FYI, he tried to recreate an MJ clutch shot with Jesser but couldn’t). He got some varying feedback from the basketball community for saying, “When I had it, I had it. Before injuries, I thought, MJ, I am coming for you.”
Recently, he even put MJ, LeBron, and Kobe in his all-time top 7 list. Jordan was his introduction to basketball, he had seen LeBron play up close as a teammate, and had a rivalry with Bryant. Some of his most memorable matchups were against the Lakers icon, including this 2009 game.
That one was memorable for Wade’s Heat teammate, Mario Chalmers for another reason. After this narrow loss, Chalmers got a brutal telling-off from D-Wade. The latter narrated the aftermath of Kobe’s one-legged game winner on his podcast in 2023.
It was a neck-and-neck game throughout. Chalmers left Derek Fisher wide open to hit a three that cut Miami’s lead down to 1 with less than 5 seconds on the clock. The Lakers fouled Wade who split the free throws. In such a close game and only 3 seconds left, Wade had only one instruction for his teammates – “Don’t let Kobe get the ball.”
The opposite happened and D-Wade is the one on the poster. Angry about this moment, he singled out Chalmers. “I was just mad at Mario for doing that dumb defensive thing. Kobe wouldn’t have made that shot if you did your job.”
Back then, Wade didn’t know whether to laugh or cry over Kobe’s spectacular heroics. Today he can savor being part of one of the most epic moments in basketball history.
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