Miami Heat

Stung and stunned, Dwyane Wade survived to make play of the game

Published May. 4, 2016 12:55 a.m. ET

Andre Vergara

Dwyane Wade clutched at his chest, dropped to a knee and covered his eyes.

He wasn't having a heart attack, but it might've felt that way.

Wade had just watched Kyle Lowry's halfcourt heave drop through the net to tie the game at the buzzer, forcing overtime and capping a crazy meltdown by the Miami Heat.

"I unfortunately had a very good look at it," Wade said. "I'm looking at the ball and I'm like `No way, this is not about to happen.'"

It was all happening against Wade and the Heat as they blew a five-point lead in the final 40 seconds.

Toronto's Terrence Ross hit a 3 to cut the lead to 89-86 with 6.5 seconds left, then drew a foul on a botched inbounds play by the Heat.

Wade went down clutching his right knee on the play.

"I hit the inside of my knee on the floor, on the bone," he said. "I'm sure it will be bruised but it'll be fine."

After the teams traded free throws, Lowry hit his first 3 in seven attempts on the night, staggering Wade.

WHAT!!!? https://t.co/Rk0ezfFRPC
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 4, 2016

"Sounds like me in the regular season," joked Wade, who didn't make a 3 from late December until Game 6 of Miami's first-round series against Charlotte. "He's right on track to make some big 3s soon."

This one was huge, but Wade was only down, not out. He fired up the team during the time out, then scored seven of his 24 points in OT. He gave the Raptors one last chance with them down by three, losing another botched inbounds pass out of bounds, but came up with a game-sealing three-point play after stripping DeMar DeRozan in the final seconds.

Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. seals the deal in Toronto!

⚡️ pic.twitter.com/u84P3OVzcV
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) May 4, 2016

"D-Wade did a great job of reading the play and jumping toward the ball, trying to take the ball away from me," DeRozan said.

"We had to win the game twice tonight," said Wade, who moved into 16th place on the NBA's playoff scoring list (3,638 points), passing Elgin Baylor (3,623). Scottie Pippen (3,642) is in 15th place.

NBA TV analyst Isiah Thomas said Wade's heroics in his 100th career playoff victory showed why he's the best leader in the league.

"When you talk about experience in leading, in these type of situations, this is the guy that you jump on his back and ride on his shoulders, because he has the experience, the knowledge, the toughness and what we call the know-how," Thomas said.