Miami Heat Rumors: Dwayne Wade Criticized In 'O Canada' Flo

Dwayne Wade learned a valuable lesson from last Saturday's Game 3. On Monday, he was the first Miami Heat player to line up while Canada's national anthem was played in the background.

Following Miami's impressive overtime 94-87 victory over Toronto, the Heat guard issued an apology to anyone, particularly the Raptor fans, who felt offended by his seemingly insensitive albeit unintentional 20-second warm-up shots while 'O Canada' was being sung. As of now, both teams tied for the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Raptor fans took to the social media to criticize him with some media outfits questioning his decision to take warm-up shots while Canada's anthem was played before the start of the game. In a video clip that is doing rounds online, Wade was shown standing in line with Heat teammates when America's own anthem was played before Miami's 95-91 loss to Toronto.

"I'm not a disrespectful person. So if anybody thinks I'm being disrespectful towards a country, then they have no idea of who Dwayne Wade is," Wade said as quoted by ESPN.

Wade blamed the situation to timing saying that the pregame routine for the Saturday's match-up was a bit later than the routine the team had in the first two games in Toronto.

As Wade receives a plethora of criticisms flooding his social media accounts, he seems to have found someone willing to take bullets for him. Associated Press sportswriter Tim Reynolds defended Wade's actions saying that the Heat guard wasn't exactly disrespectful as he was just trying to make his final warm-up shot.

"Dwayne Wade always has to make his last shot before lining up for the anthems. I don't think it was disrespect of O Canada. He kept missing," Reynolds tweeted as quoted by CNN.

Meanwhile, Wade came out stronger on Monday after their home loss to the Raptors last Saturday. He scored 30 points including a marvelous layup shot that sent the match-up to an exciting overtime.

Miami had been struggling to close in the nine-point gap but frantic shots from the Heat resulted to a remarkable bounce-back leading to 94-87 win over Toronto. Now tied at 2-2, the war of attrition is sending both teams to Game 5 at Toronto.

"Two tough-minded teams," Raptors Coach Dwane Casey said as quoted by Los Angeles Times. "They came out and forced their will on us at the end of the game."