Wade faces fear to prep for playoffs

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 17, 2007 | by Associated Press

MIAMI -- Dwyane Wade says he's scared of needles. Once again, though, they're helping him get ready for the playoffs.

Bothered by knee tendinitis, the Miami Heat guard is utilizing acupuncture therapy to help relieve the pain. Wade missed 23 games with a dislocated left shoulder before returning last week, but as the postseason looms, it's the knee -- not the shoulder -- that's causing him the most angst.

"You just try to find a way to feel a little better," Wade said Monday before the Heat hosted the Boston Celtics. "Find a way. We get the best of help from all the best doctors around the world, so you try to find someone to help you. Right now I'm doing that and I feel a little better."

Wade, the reigning NBA finals MVP who entered Monday averaging 27.8 points, fourth in the league, has taken a number of painkilling injections during the previous two postseasons for a variety of ailments, including rib and leg injuries.

Acupuncture is a centuries-old practice of poking tiny needles into the skin to treat a variety of ailments, including seizures, skin conditions, arthritis, chronic pain and sinus infections. A number of NBA players have tried it in recent years, including New Jersey guard Jason Kidd, Los Angeles Lakers forward Vladimir Radmanovic and even Wade's teammate Shaquille O'Neal -- who said he utilized it during the 2001 playoffs, when he was with the Lakers.

And this isn't Wade's first foray with the treatment, either. He used it on his shoulder during his college years, when he was on a summertime European tour with a team coached by Bill Van Gundy.

"You can't do it every day," Wade said. "But I do it like every other day. It helps."

Since Wade returned to the Heat lineup on April 8, he hasn't complained of any issues with the shoulder.

But the knee has been tender; he grimaced last week after jumping for a dunk, has been undergoing other forms of treatment besides acupuncture and had a large ice pack strapped to the joint after Miami practiced Monday morning.

"It's getting better," Wade said. "That's the only thing I can ask for, that each day it doesn't get any worse. As long as it doesn't get any worse, I'm not going to complain."

BUTLER EYES PLAYOFFS: Caron Butler is not ready to write off the season.

The Washington Wizards' All-Star forward said Monday he hopes to have the cast removed from his broken right hand in a week and thinks he could play if the team reached the second round of the playoffs.

His recovery time was supposed to be six weeks after he broke a bone in his hand two weeks ago.

"There's definitely a chance," Butler said. "I'm trying to get my cast off probably as early as next Monday. So the second round -- that's what we're looking at."

CAMBY GETS NIGHT OFF: Marcus Camby, the NBA's leader in blocked shots, sat out Denver's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves Monday night as a precaution.

Camby, who leads the league with 3.3 blocks per game, bruised his right knee in the fourth quarter of the Nuggets' loss at Memphis on Saturday night and is listed as day to day.

The Nuggets open the playoffs at San Antonio and a healthy Camby is vital for their chances of upsetting the third-seeded Spurs.