Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat’s chances of upsetting the Sixers

Vintage Flash 

On Monday night, Dwyane Wade turned back the clock and led the Heat to a 113-103 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, tying the series at one. At 36 years young, Wade finished with 28 points, seven rebounds and three assists in 26 minutes off the bench. After the first 15 minutes in the game, Wade had outscored the entire Sixers team, 21-20, while shooting 8-for-9 from the floor.

“Flash” joined Jamal Crawford, Eddie Johnson, Vince Carter and Andre Miller as the only players in postseason history, age 36 or older, to finish with at least 28 points while coming off the bench. Nene Hilario is the only other reserve in NBA history with 28 points and seven rebounds in under 30 minutes of play.

During the first half of his legendary performance, Wade passed Hall of Famer and Boston Celtics legend, Larry Bird, in career postseason points. He is now 10th all time and is just 106 points shy of tying Tony Parker for ninth in NBA history. While Parker is currently still playing as well, this is clearly in reach if Miami can get past Philadelphia.

Wade has yet to commit to playing another season in the NBA, so it is only right we look back at how legendary this man’s career has been, if he decides to hang the shoes up after the playoffs.

D-Wade

In all honesty, Dwyane Wade’s resume is good enough to be considered a top-five shooting guard in NBA history. According to FS1 analyst and co-host of First Things First, Nick Wright, Wade is the fourth best shooting guard this league has ever seen, trailing Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Jerry West.

The former fifth overall pick in the 2003 draft, “Father Prime” is a three-time NBA champ, three-time All-Defensive, eight-time All-NBA and 12-time All-Star. In 2008-09, Wade led the league in scoring with 30.2 points per game. The following season, he won the All-Star Game MVP.

In his first NBA Finals appearance against the Dallas Mavericks, Wade and the Miami Heat faced adversity early on, trailing 2-0 to start the series. Wade put the team on his back in Games 3, 4 and 5, erupting for 42, 36 and 43 points in those respective games. In Game 6, Wade dropped 36 points, and the Miami Heat won the series 4-2.

Flash became the fifth youngest player to earn NBA Finals MVP honors. His 34.7 points per game ranks third in terms of highest scoring average by a player in his first NBA Finals. According to ESPN’s John Hollinger, Wade’s 33.8 PER in the NBA Finals is noted as the greatest Finals performance since the NBA-ABA merger.

During the 2005-06 championship run, Wade joined Allen Iverson as the only two players in NBA history to finish the postseason with at least 650 points, 50 steals and 130 assists. In Miami’s Big 3 era, Wade won two more rings, as Miami went back-to-back in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

While his playoff totals are among the best, Wade made 12 straight All-Star appearances from 2005-16. During that stretch, Wade was named First Team All-NBA in two seasons and Second Team three times, as well as Second Team All-Defensive three times. Over his storied career, Wade has six seasons averaging at least 24 points, five assists, four rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. He trails just LeBron James (11) and Michael Jordan (eight) in this category.

As you can tell from the tables above, D-Wade is one of the most complete players we have ever seen. Whether he retires or not, Wade will go down as a legend. Does he have enough in the tank to help propel the Heat past the 76ers?

Miami vs. Philadelphia

With the series knotted at one, Miami sits right in the driver’s seat, as they head home for Game 3 and 4. During the Big 3 ERA, Miami went 38-9 at home in the playoffs. Even without LeBron, coach Erik Spoelstra is 8-4 at home during the postseason. During the regular season, Miami went 26-15 at American Airlines Arena. However, the Sixers are a solid road team, finishing the season 22-19 averaging 108 points away from Philly.

While Wade most likely won’t put on another historic performance, Philly needs Joel Embiid back if they expect to win this series. After the Game 2 loss, Embiid took to social media and wrote “(expletive) sick and tired of being babied.”

This series will come down to 3-point shooting. In Game 1, Philly went 18-for-28 (64.3 percent) from beyond the arc. The following game, Philly went an abysmal 7-for-36 (19.4 percent). If Philly hits their threes, there is no reason why they should not win. They have the best player on the floor in Ben Simmons, as well as prolific 3-point shooters like JJ Redick, Marco Belinelli, Robert Covington and Dario Saric.

If Embiid does in fact return, Miami will need more out of Hassan Whiteside, who seems to rise to the challenge when facing Philly’s star big man. These are two of the top defensive teams in terms of defensive rating, so expect some close games the rest of the way. To keep it simple, if Philly’s shooting is off, Miami will win this series. If the Sixers knock down deep shots, Miami will be in trouble.

Prediction: Miami in six

Featured image from The New York Times 

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