Former Miami Heat guard Norris Cole someday wants to return to the NBA.
On Thursday, he drove home the point.
Cole scored a team-high 20 points, including the winning basket with 1.4 seconds remaining, to lead Team USA to an 85-84 victory against Puerto Rico in the AmeriCup quarterfinals.
"I just wanted to make a play for the team," Cole said. "The team trusted me, drew up a play for me to catch it and I was able to make a play. Moments like that, everybody dreams about, but I work hard at my individual game along with the team game, I was able to show my individual talent within the team concept and it worked out."
Cole, who won two titles with the Heat in 2012 and 2013, last played in the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016. At 34, he said there is still time for him to help an NBA team.
“I still have the ability," Cole said. "God has still blessed me with the ability. I still have the fire, the hunger and I still feel like I have something to prove, things that I would like to accomplish as a player. That feeling of winning a championship, the mission, the goal, the work to try to get to that point again, that’s what drives me as a competitor. And I want that feeling again.”
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Shandel Richardson is the Miami Heat writer for Inside The Heat. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA.
