The Wade Effect

I can't think of too many players in the league who could "replace" Wade. He is a special talent. Admittedly, I can't think of anyone who can replace Shaq. The Heat will need for him to have a HOF performance for them to win. Pistons and Spurs coming up.

 

Shaq will never DOMINATE as long as he can't shoot free throws.

Not to mention the new rules allow teams to double him without the ball and that makes it doubly difficult.

DD

 

I couldn't possibly disagree more.

And neither could the Piston's defense - the way it gravitates toward Shaq even if he but touches the ball for a moment - as compared to the way it plays against Wade.

Wade's a hell of a player - but he's not MVP of the Heat anymore than Bryant was MVP of the Lakers, or Hardaway was MVP of the Magic.

 

while i agree shaq was the mvp of those past teams, current shaq is not close to the shaq from those teams but wade is close to kobe. during the season he had already fallen off a bit and now obviously in the playoffs he's not even getting the yao ming special, 18 and 8 (or maybe he just crept over it after the last game). while i might be able to see an argument for shaq as regular season mvp of the heat, i can't see one for him being the playoff mvp. with shaq hobbled wade has carried them.

 

Let's put it this way: Tracy McGrady is doubled on almost EVERY play for the most part during our the season, and he still averages what he averages and does what he does. Wade is NEVER EVER doubled, but instead Shaq is pretty much always doubled whenever he touches the ball. So ask defenses and opposing coaches why they do that, you will get your answer.

I am a huge Wade fan by the way, I love his toughness and the way he drives inside. But let me tell you a FACT about Wade: as much as you love having him drive inside consistently as he does, his career will be VERY short or riddles with injuries if he doesn't develop a reliabale jumper alas T-Mac and Kobe. A game like tonight perfectly showcases his weakness, and that is his jumper or lack thereof.

Remember when T-Mac was injured and people didn't think he could play? He had something like 44 against the Jazz and scored tons of points against other teams relying solely on his jumper because he couldn't run on those knees/with a bad back/strained hip, almost the same way Jordan did when he got older and lost his athletic advantage against his opponents and became more of a jump shooter.

Now, I am not saying Wade can't develop a jumper, because I guarantee you if there is one thing he will practice this summer, it will be a jumper. He will have a decent jumper next season, I am pretty confident about that.

But again, Wade's one-deminsional weapon on offense (he is not a very good 1-on-1 defender either btw, but he might get away with that since he does occasionally block shots on help defense), is hurting him against Detroit tonight. I know the injury plays a part in it too, but unless he starts drilling shot after shot in the 2nd half, or at least two other Miami players have career nights, Miami will lose. And again, as someone here said, injuries are not really excuses anymore once the playoffs start. McGrady played hurt big time throughout the end of the season and the playoffs, and was phenomenal in both.

BTW, I did pick Detroit before the series was even played, so that is my opinion about the series, I am actually kind of surprised at how inconsistent Detroit has been in this series, because they haven't played anywhere near their best in this series, and yet they find themselves in Game 7. I think if Detroit played better in this series, they would have ended it in 6.

 

No disrespect, but that is a bunch of bull! I think people are forgetting just how good and skilled Kobe is. Until Wade can do what Kobe does while being double-teamed, I would hold on to those thoughts.

Wade is very, very good, but he ain't no Kobe.

 

Gotta say Wade really is making a case for the best player in the playoffs. Might be a preview of next year's MVP.

 

Hopefully his pain killer runs out in the fourth quarter.

 

He is a very tough kid, he is only 2nd to Iverson in that category. He takes a lot of physical punishment because he continues to insist on going inside repeatedly. But once he gets that jumper going next season, he will be an even better player.

Lebron and Wade are easily the only future superstars in the league from that draft class. Detroit missed out on both Wade and Carmelo, I don't know what they were thinking picking up Darko unless they were going to actually play him! Still, Darko will be a very good player in this league once he gets a few years under his belt. At least he is still a young guy.

 

I just thought it was interesting to see him so loose after sitting down, I thought he'd get loose by playing big minutes now he's out there as if nothings wrong with him. Hmm... I know he's tough though, dude gets knocked down at least 5 times a game.

 

As I was saying............


Shaq will never dominate again with the new rules, and his lack of Free Throw shooting.

Watch the 4th quarter of tonights game.....can't go to Shaq at the end if he can't drop the rain in the bucket from the charity stripe.

DD

 

huh?

Shaq was 3/4 from the line late in the 4th and the Heat constantly went to him down the stretch of tonight's game. The Heat were at their best in the 4th when they kept going to Shaq and it wasn't until they STOPPED, and their guards got out of control that the Pistons took control.

 

He was actually 3-4 at the end. And from the play of Dooling, Wade, and Damon in the last 2 minutes, I would have went to Shaq every possession

 

I liked Shaq's defensive play at the end of the game more than his buckets. Where was he on that Rasheed putback? It's not all about scoring, especially with CENTERS. How many rebounds did he have in the fourth quarter?

 

Wade lost any chance for the Heat to get back in the game when he took that boneheaded jumper early in the clock. Should've gone to Shaq, Shaq was dominating at the end. He had a great game, and I thought the guards ignored him in the last 2 minutes for whatever reason, and that ended any chance of them getting back into it.

This just shows that there is no substitute for experience in the playoffs, even for standouts like Wade. And Sheed was the key for Detroit late in the 4th, and they collectively showed why they are the Champions.

 

Like you said, Wade's no Kobe, not yet.

 

Stop hating on Shaq , seriously though, he did his best down the stretch, and even swapped the ball away from detroit to cause a turnover and bring the Heat the other way to try and score. It is the other guys that made ill-advised decisions that cost the Heat the game. Remember, the Heat were leading the entire quarter until the last couple of minutes +.

Shaq played very well, he did his best this game.

 

Box score

3-6 for the whole game from the line....he is a great player and WAS a dominant one, but no longer.

And the fact that he is less than 50% from the foul line makes it hard to count on him at the end.

DD

 

Looking back, I don't understand what happened in game 6. Did Miami just mail it in because Wade wasn't out there? I mean Detroit has great defense, but what happened? Like they lost all hope when Wade went down. What kind of crap is that? And it happened tonight too. When Wade was resting, they looked lost. When Wade got in the game, they gave him the ball and started praying. Miami's a 3rd option away from being in the Finals next year.

 

Normally you are right, but THIS game he did make 'em at the end. So that can't be cited as a problem THIS one game.

Shaq did his job down the stretch, the other guys played well throughout the game, but not down the stretch, and that is ALL that is needed to lose such a close game.