Dean Wade finally has his moment, and I couldn’t be happier for him

The Boston Celtics were taking it to the Cavaliers Tuesday night – just as they’d done to so many other hapless teams this season – on the Cavs’ home floor, in a nationally televised game nonetheless.

Down 87-71 to start the fourth quarter – and without three of their starters – the Cavs were in dire straits against the NBA’s best team. Early in the fourth, the Celtics extended their seemingly insurmountable lead to 93-71.

Down by double digits to start the fourth, Georges Niang had some advice for his teammate Dean Wade: “Empty the clip.”

Wade, whose last bucket came in the first quarter, took Niang’s advice to heart. And then some.

Wade splashed five 3-pointers in the final frame, igniting an improbable rally that snapped the Celtics’ NBA-best 11-game winning streak. Wade finished with 23 points – including a putback dunk that sealed the game – and his 20 fourth-quarter points outscored all of the Celtics combined (17) in the deciding quarter.

The soft-spoken Wade, who has battled injuries through much of his young NBA career, had his moment Tuesday night, delivering one of the Cavs’ biggest wins of the regular season so far. Isaac Okoro and Niang hit big 3-pointers in the final stretch as well.

After the Cavs’ 105-104 win, it was a refreshing sight to see Wade on the podium, where he was pepped with questions from the media.

“It felt good, the fourth quarter,” Wade said matter-of-factly. “The rim looked really big.”

During his postgame comments, Wade offered a glimpse into the mindset of the Cavs as they battled back from a 22-point deficit. Interestingly, Wade said he didn’t look at the scoreboard for much of the fourth quarter.

“When that momentum shift happened in the fourth quarter, you’re kind of aware of the score but you’re really just kind of in the flow of the game,” Wade told reporters. “You’re not really worried about anything except making the right play, and when I looked up there, I think we were either down 2 or down 4. I was like, Oh yeah, momentum is on our side, we’re playing well right now; defensively, we’re getting stops – I think we’re in a good spot.”

Wade credited Niang for his “empty-the-clip” pep talk in the fourth. Wade’s teammates and coaches had similar words of encouragement for him at halftime.

“They’re like, shoot it a hundred times. I don’t care if you miss every single time,” Wade said. “Them having that confidence in me really motivated me and gave me confidence. We came out in the fourth and they found me every single time I was open. The ball was in my hands every time I was open – [with] perfect timing. I gotta give [credit] to my teammates for having that confidence in me.”

The first three quarters of the Celtics game looked like a continuation of the previous game against the shorthanded Knicks, a 107-98 loss. But as each shot fell for Wade, the fifth-year forward said he could feel the momentum shifting.

“This group, we just never stop fighting,” Wade told reporters. “We have full belief in ourselves and each other, and tonight really showed that no matter what happens, we’re gonna play hard and play together.”

Wade said he probably hasn’t had a quarter like that since high school, “or maybe before high school.”

It’s hard not to root for a guy like Wade – a Wichita, Kansas, native who stayed in his home state to play college hoops. He’s had some hard luck with injuries early in his career, but when he’s healthy, he plays hard, hustles on defense and crashes the glass.

It was nice to see his entire game on display. In addition to six 3-pointers, he got two big baskets by being aggressive in the paint. He also hauled in eight rebounds.

“[It’s] just all those little things,” Wade said. “I was trying to get out there and run the floor as hard as I could, going for all the offensive rebounds. And on defense everyone relies on each other, and I didn’t want to be the person to let them down. That’s my whole mindset.”

Down the stretch, Wade was in the zone.

“Man, it’s a great feeling,” Wade said after the game. “It’s kind of like your mind’s quiet – just quiet – and the rim looks huge, that’s all I can tell you. As soon as the ball touched my hand, I think I hit a 3 and [the Celtics] called timeout, but that whole time running down the floor I was like, If DG flips this back to me, no matter where I’m at on this court, it’s going up. And I had just hit a couple before that … and the rim looked like a swimming pool – so that helps.”