Wade hurting but says he'll play vs Hawks

MIAMI – Dwyane Wade is ailing again in the NBA playoffs, an odd-year coincidence that he and the Miami Heat would love to escape from.

The NBA’s scoring champion continued suffering on Tuesday from a sore and stiff back, hurting so much that even standing against a wall was a bit problematic.

Still, Wade said he’ll play on Wednesday when the Heat visit the Atlanta Hawks in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round series, tied at two games apiece.

“I’ll be ready,” Wade said.

Miami’s playoff exits in 2005 and 2007 both came with Wade hobbling. Four years ago, it was a rib cage injury that doomed Miami in the Eastern Conference finals against Detroit. Two years ago, knee and shoulder pain left him unable to do much of anything against Chicago.

Now, the problem is his back, which began to spasm on Monday morning, and became so bad during the Miami 81-71 loss that night that teammate Jamaal Magloire had to lift Wade off the bench so he could check back into play. He finished only 9-for-26 from the field.

“I can’t control it. The only thing I can do is go out there and play, and if I’m hurting, find ways to try to help my team until it gets better,” Wade said, as he rocked back and forth near the outer wall of the Heat locker room on Tuesday, seeming uncomfortable. “I don’t have the answers. I’m just going to go out there and play.”

“It’s just a pride thing,” said Udonis Haslem, Miami’s co-captain alongside Wade. “I know once Dwyane steps on the floor, he’s going to throw all that back stuff to the side and he’s going to perform the way he’s capable of performing.” (AP)