Cook now a marked man

For Daequan Cook, the acclaim that comes with being the All-Star three-point shooting champion also is a drawback. The secret is out, so every team the Heat faces is focusing on this second-year guard.

Coming out of the All-Star break, Cook struggled and it appeared he had left his winning stroke in Phoenix. But Cook broke out of his minislump in a victory over the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night.

Aware that Cook, 21, has never experienced this kind of attention from opponents, the Heat has been reminding Cook that he can be effective without scoring.

'You have to let him know, `Dae-Dae, you're a good rebounder for us, you're an excellent defender for us, and just you being on the court is helping us,' '' Dwyane Wade said.

' `If you're not getting shots, that means the defense is leaving a guy on you and that's opening the court for other guys.' ''

This season, Cook is averaging nearly six three-point attempts a game. In the past four games, he is averaging about four a game.

He has become such an integral part of the offense that when he had no field-goal attempts in Saturday's victory over Philadelphia, it was a topic of conversation.

The team told Cook not to get frustrated.

''Hopefully going forward he continues to understand that he's not getting shots because we don't want him to get them, but other teams are taking them away from him,'' Wade said.

Cook acknowledged that being a marked man will force him to expand his offensive repertoire. It also is requiring him to be more patient.

Said Wade: ``The main thing with Dae-Dae is to keep his head up.

''There's going to come a time when he's going to help us win,'' he said.

It's happening already, and it could continue without Cook even shooting. Read more at The Miami Herald