Monday proved to be quite positive for the Miami Heat (2-1), who continued to celebrate the best player in franchise history and moved over .500 thanks to their 106-98 victory over the away Detroit Pistons (0-4). climbed.

But before we recap the latter in full, let's take a look at the bronze elephant in the room: the newly unveiled statue of Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade. The 2006 NBA Finals MVP, who was showered with MVP chants during a halftime ceremony celebrating his statue and the Miami intersection dedicated to him, became only the 15th player in NBA history to have a statue outside an NBA arena had. He joins players like Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles Lakers), Kobe Bryant (Lakers), Magic Johnson (Lakers), Shaquille O'Neal (Lakers), Wilt Chamberlain (Philadelphia 76ers) and Dominique to Wilkins (Atlanta Hawks) and Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks).

Around the team

Wade is aware of the jokes but has no interest in dimming his lights. A day after the Heat legend was honored with his statue outside the Kaseya Center, the three-time NBA champion stayed in the moment and reflected on his gratitude for the bigger picture. Not all advertising is good advertising, but it's hard to credibly hate someone being celebrated with a statue because… well, they're very rare?

“I don’t know many people with a statue,” he said before Monday’s game. “Do you? Is anyone here? Do you know anything about the process of making a statue? It's an incredible process to be a part of. It's a complicated process. When I sat with the Miami Heat, we wanted to capture a moment that would Organization, representing myself and the city. I feel like we captured this moment in an artistic form – in an artistic way. If I wanted it to look like me, I would just stand in front of the arena and you would take all the photos.”

And to be fair to Wade, he was able to take the social media comments in stride, because it's hard to pass up a good laugh. Beyond the actual reveal, the 42-year-old expressed gratitude that his basketball career continues to be everlasting. Jokes are timely, but statues are literally forever (unless one somehow melts, of course).

“I appreciate all the comments that everyone has because I’m in on the joke, guys,” Wade said. “I laugh all the time. I'm cool. I saw a few memes today where I was like, “Okay, I have a little Laurence Fishburne chin.” I mean, my chin is covered in this beard – you can't see it. I don’t have a beard at this point so you can all see my jaw a little better.”

Honestly, the Dwyane Wade statue looks more like Laurence Fishburne pic.twitter.com/CHOH4F1ktQ

— Joel Rush (@JoelRushNBA) October 27, 2024

While balancing perspective and laughter, Wade also wanted to express his gratitude for the work of sculptors Omri Amrany and Oscar León of Rotblatt Amrany Studio. Amrany is also credited with sculpting statues for Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

“The Fine Arts Studios family has done a great job,” Wade said. “And I hate that for them because they're in a different world, you know, when it comes to the work that they do and what they create. And every time they create something, someone has to come out and say something about their creation who can't do what they do. And that's why I know how they feel because people talked about me a lot but they couldn't do what I do. So you learn to just laugh, watch it, learn from it and move on. So, we’re good.”

On Sunday, many fans took the opportunity to point out how off base Dwyane Wade's new statue was.

But for sculptor Omri Amrany, who helped design the Wade statue, the criticism is not painful.https://t.co/U4pOaWmWQA pic.twitter.com/VL27LVIaKA

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) October 28, 2024

Match result: Heat 106, piston 98

• Heat top performers: Jimmy Butler (team high: 23 points, four rebounds, seven assists, four steals, zero turnovers), Terry Rozier (20 points, 5-12 3-point FG, five rebounds, three assists, one steal), Bam Adebayo (12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals, three blocks)

• Piston top performers: Cade Cunningham (game-high 24 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals), Jaden Ivey (18 points, 5-9 3-point FG, four rebounds, one assist, two steals), Tim Hardaway Jr. (20 points) . , 3-6 3-point FG, one assist averaged 10.7 points in the first three games)

• Important section in the game: Could an entire neighborhood count as a route? Let's look at Monday's final frame as Miami's key to victory. In the fourth quarter, Miami had a turnover and forced Cunningham into three turnovers and 2 of 8 shooting. On offense, seven Heat players scored in the fourth quarter while the Pistons shot just 27.3 percent (6 of 22) to end the game.

What the heat says

• Jimmy Butler (on the team finding balance on offense): “I’m not going to give up my game because of the way people want our organization to play. I have to attack. I have to find my guys, take care of the ball defensively and it will look like it looked tonight.”
• Jimmy Butler (on the team's aggressiveness in steals): “I love it. Gambling… you just have to get four out of six. You can do up to two. Spo (coach Erik Spoelstra) will probably be angry, but when you get four out of six, he can't be too angry. I want all the gambling in the world. That's what I do. I want everyone else to follow this example.”
• Terry Rozier (on thriving alongside Tyler Herro): “It's just a lot of fun. We say it all the time: you just pick your poison. We're two selfless guys looking for our shot, our teammate's shot. Together with our hosts Bam (Adebayo) and Jimmy, we're just trying to bring it all together. And if we do that, it’s going to be tough.”
• Tyler Herro (on why Miami secured the win): “Just getting stops. I think the most important thing right now is finding an identity at this point in the season – it's still very early. We can hang our hat on the defense whether the shots are falling or not. I still thought it was an efficient evening in terms of the shot diet and profile we want. It’s about continuing to get more threes and layups and the shots will fall.”

Next Heat game: Tuesday vs. New York Knicks, 7:30 p.m. ET

(Top photo: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)