Dwyane Wade came close to teaming with Jimmy Butler on a unique achievement in Saturday’s triumph over the Cavaliers.
How close?
One single, solitary rebound, and he had his own teammate to blame.
With Butler having already achieved a triple-double, Wade needed just one board to join him as the final seconds wound down.
That rebound was nearly in Wade’s grasp — until, that is, reserve center Cristiano Felicio reached over him to grab the ball, knocking it free and preventing Wade and Butler from becoming just the eighth set of NBA teammates to total triple-doubles in the same game, and the first since Vince Carter and Jason Kidd did it for the Nets in April 2007.
Dwyane Wade was a rebound shy of his first triple-double since 2011… pic.twitter.com/9hKe5sF1P3
— NBA.com (@NBAcom) February 26, 2017
Wade’s response in his postgame interview? “My teammate didn’t want me to be great,” with tongue seemingly in cheek.
"My teammate didn't want me to be great. It's all good." https://t.co/IvY9Z6xcfh
— Alysha Tsuji (@AlyshaTsuji) February 26, 2017
Wade later “forgave” Felicio after the Brazilian big man expressed remorse via Twitter.
https://twitter.com/DwyaneWade/status/835723327889158145
Butler finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, while Wade had 20 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.
Among the triple-double teammates they just missed joining were Bulls legends Michael Jordan (41 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds) and Scottie Pippen (15 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds), who achieved the feat in Jan. 1989.
