The Miami Heat must be praying that Dwyane Wade’s knee is good enough, in fact better, to play in tonight’s Game Four against the Dallas Mavericks.  In Game Three, despite colliding with teammate Shaquille O’Neal that caused Wade’s knee to be injured, Wade put on a dribbling and penetrating to the rack display for a final tally of 42 points.  That explosion from Wade and a missed free-throw from the Mavs’ Dirk Nowitzki that could have tied the game with just over three seconds left in regulation, brings us to tonight’s game with the Mavs owning a 2-1 lead in the series.

For the Heat, they really must get O’Neal going.  In fact, the Diesel needs to get himself going as he’s looked tentative with teh ball in his hands.  O’Neal isn’t attacking the basket with the fervor he should have to win another title.  In fact, you can argue that Erick Dampier has been just as good as Shaq.  I can’t believe I just wrote that.  Either O’Neal needs to establish himself down in the box and dominate or the perimater shooters that are open, namely Jason Williams and Antoine Walker, need to hit the open shots.

Of course, Wade will still be relied upon, but with his knee injury, it wouldn’t be wise to expect another performance that has Wade taking his team on his shoulders and to a win.  Wade is a tough player, but he isn’t Superman.  That role is supposed to fall on O’Neal.  However, O’Neal will need to take more than nine shots in a game to do that.

As far as the Mavericks go, they don’t have to change anything about their game plan.  They played bad enough to win Game Three and have basically dictated the series with their offense and defensive play, as evidenced by containing the force that is Shaquille O’Neal.  If they should do anything, they might want to establish themselves early in the contest to play the tempo they want and take the Miami faithful out of the game. 

The game tips off tonight at 9pm.