Dwyane Wade has had better birthdays. At shootaround, Jimmy Butler said that he was going to give his elder teammate 35 punches to grow on, and head coach Fred Hoiberg joked that he would run “a bunch of lobs” for Wade.
Birthday No. 35 did not end well for No. 3. A 99-98 loss to the Dallas Mavericks completed a season-series sweep by one of the worst teams in the NBA, on a night when Hoiberg looked out of his depth in managing rotations.
Before the game, Wade hosted an impromptu New Edition dance party at his locker with several reporters, to the amusement of his younger teammates who weren’t yet alive when “Cool it Now” and “My Prerogative” were released.