TNT analyst Charles Barkley has been critical of Miami Heat guard Dwayne Wade in recent weeks, often voicing his opinion about the decline in the Heat star's game. Wade claims he hasn't heard Barkley's comments but you couldn't tell by the way he's been playing lately.
The Heat are coming off a Monday night win over the Atlanta Hawks, a game in which Wade shot 11 0f 13 while scoring 26 points. After Monday's game Wade claimed he "really didn't listen to the noise" that is mainly coming from Barkley, but some of Wade's teammates disagree.
Reigning NBA MVP and teammate LeBron James has taken notice to Barkley's comments towards Wade and has seen the results in Wade's play first hand.
"It means Charles Barkley, you shut up," James said about what Wade showed Monday.
Barkley was critical of Wade during a Nov. 29 TNT broadcast and Wade two days later scored a season-high 34 points against Brooklyn. After Barkley continued to rip Wade last Thursday, Wade has scored 26 points in each of the past two games while shooting 20 of 25.
This got James to thinking that he'd much rather prefer Barkley to continue making his comments because it seems to have motivated Wade to perform at an extremely high level.
"The man is shooting 80 percent the last couple of games," James said. "Come on. That's crazy. Seriously . . . He's unbelievable. I do (want Barkley to keep criticizing Wade). I love it. When someone's not saying stuff about me, I'm glad that somebody finally got off me for a change."
Wade is still somewhat recovering from knee surgery he had last July and anticipates he won't be at full strength until around the All-Star break. But in mixing his game up with jumpers and inside shots, he sure looked like his old self Monday.
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