Dwyane Wade's "One Last Dance" is coming to New York, and Knicks head coach David Fizdale couldn't be more honored to be a part of his final game at Madison Square Garden.
Fizdale and Wade were extremely close during the former's time in Miami as an assistant coach. They won an NBA title together, and when Fizdale took the job with the Knicks, Wade had nothing but praise for one of his good friends in the league.
That doesn't mean Fizdale doesn't want to hand Wade and the Heat a loss on Saturday night.
"That's my brother but I want to beat him," Fizdale told reporters laughing at practice Friday. "Obviously when we compete, we compete to win. But overall I think the cool part is I'm here to witness his last time in The Garden. He's obviously had some special moments here and he's had an incredible career that I was lucky enough to be a part of. He's like family to me and I just want to see him go out on a high note this year."
In his 15th season in the league, Wade returned to Miami -- the city that came to love him as he became a perennial All-Star -- for his final year. And even at 37 years old, Wade is still averaging 14.4 points and shooting 43.5 percent over 25.7 minutes per game.
But that doesn't surprise Fizdale, who got to know what Wade was truly about on and off the court.
"His work," Fizdale said when asked what impressed him most about Wade. "He's a tireless worker. He's evolved his game, he's added pieces to his game so that he can stay relavant. He really, really takes care of his body."
The sculpting of Wade's physique never took a day off -- even when he and Fizdale went on vacation.
"This is a guy who when we went on vacation together -- I'm an early riser and it was dark outside most mornings and he was already up running and sprinting," Fizdale recalled. "This is in the middle of the summer overseas hanging out on the beach and he was just relentless about how he wanted to stay relavant. It's no surprise to me that he's still playing at a high level even in the year he's saying he's shutting it down."
The Knicks are on the last leg of their dismal regular season, but The Garden will likely be packed tomorrow night to witness one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history wave them a final goodbye before hanging up his shoes.
And though he may not top Doc Rivers calling a timeout for the Clippers crowd to cheer for Dirk Nowitzki, you can bet Fizdale will be front and center showing his love to Wade after the game.