NBA Finals Hinges on Wade

Now that the series is guaranteed to head back to Miami for a sixth game, my prediction of Heat in 5 is no longer a possibility.  I should have figured that the apathetic Miami team would show up at least once, but oh well.  One thing I can point to and say “I told you so” was the importance of Dwyane Wade.  I know it isn’t the boldest of predictions, but his significance can’t be overstated. 

If the Heat are to have any hope of repeating, Wade needs to accept a much larger role like he did in Game 4.  I’m not entirely sure why he hasn’t been playing like this all series It might be the knee, but I don’t think that’s the reason – not all of it, at least.  I think the biggest reason why we’ve seen a lesser Wade is because he has been forced to be a piece of the puzzle  rather than operating independent of LeBron and everyone else on the court, like he did when he was carrying Miami in his ’06 days.

This team is built around James – as it should be, he is the best player in the world – but Wade works best when he is attacking, not waiting on LeBron to drive and dish out to him.  He’s a superstar, and shouldn’t be waiting for his turn like the other role players.

Since LeBron so often assumes the role of the distributor, the team needs Wade to shoot more often and attack the rim whenever the opportunity presents itself.  We all know he has the ability to be a primary shot-taker – at least when he’s healthy enough – and the team will benefit if he embraces this like he did on Thursday.  Wade and James combined for 70 of the Heat’s shots, and that’s the way it should be.

So even though my predictions at the beginning of this series haven’t been entirely accurate, I’m standing by the claim that Wade is the determining factor in this series.  He didn’t assert himself as early in the Finals as I thought he would, but he’s finally made his presence felt (better late than never).  If he remains healthy and maintains that same intensity and killer instinct, I think Miami is in great shape to win another title.  That’s an enormous “if” though, seeing as the only consistent thing about Wade lately has been his inconsistency. 

Here’s hoping that Wade comes to play in these last two or three games, just so I can look back on this series and say I wasn’t completely wrong (I’m looking at you, Danny Green). 

Share

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>