I think Wade outplayed both of them. By convention MVP goes to the winner, but there is no doubt in my mind that Wade deserved it badly. Dirk was good, but what I saw from Wade made me start to love basketball again. I began thinking to myself "if only he wasn't on the Heat, I'd be the president of his fan club."
Do you people know what choking actually is? it's summarised in the reversed pun, "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory".
Terry sparked the come back in Game 2 which changed this whole series around, then had two bad games. After that he played good. I think you could make a case for him.
I'm one of the "Wade is better than Kobe" people. I was disappointed that he didn't take over Game 6.. I thought for sure he wouldn't let them lose three times in a row. Definitely a black mark in his legacy for me, but he's got the next four years to help make it look better. That said, he did still average 26.5 ppg throughout the finals, which was the best on either team. And let's not bring up Kobe pretending he never lost in the NBA finals.
The reason why people aren't talking about Wade is because he came to play in every game and he's already gotten over the Championship hurdle anyway. Lebron played exceptionally poorly by his usual standards. It's more about, in my opinion, how people are going to look back at this series and use it as a criticism against Lebron's supremacy in the league. It was his unexpectedly poor play, especially in the 4th quarter, that has people buzzing. Wade just did what he was expected to do, and that was play like a superstar. Not much to talk about there. And @ LongTimeFan^^, I really don't think this is a black mark on Wade's legacy at all. The guy played incredibly well. As I said, this is definitely a "black mark" on Lebron's legacy if on anyone's. He played far below expectations and if anybody on the court could be pointed to as a choker, it's him.
I think most people here that bring up Kobe are not doing it denying he ever lost finals. They are bringing him up because he won 5 finals. That's why he remains better than Wade. 5 > 1
Bringing up him having more titles than Wade to me doesn't really make sense no prove a point. If Wade played with a dominant Shaq for the years Kobe did he would have at least 3 rings. Plus by using the ring argument Jordan is not the best player ever in the NBA.
Hey tinman: Wonder if we'll see more of those puppet commercials with the Kobe & LeBron puppets? You know: the ones where the Kobe puppet constantly talks about his "rings" to the LeBron puppet. I can just see a new one coming out with a D Wade puppet...
He plays for the first 8 minutes of the fourth quarter. He was just as bad as Lebron in the final minutes of these games. He gave them nothing during the Dallas runs to close the last three games. He missed a game-tying free throw with about 30 seconds left in game 4. He had multiple unforced turnovers down the stretch in the last couple games. If the refs hadn't gifted him with a championship in 2006, Dirk would be a two-time Finals MVP and Wade would be in the same boat as Lebron.
To me, LeBron did more than Wade in this playoffs. Without LeBron, they wouldn't have been in the Finals. Without Wade's pretty line, they would still be lost in the Finals. Let's be more specific. LeBron turned it on against the Bulls, and he did everything. He shut down Bulls' best player in Rose, when needed. He closed games single-handedly when needed. There is no argument that LeBron sucked or choked in the Finals. But for Wade, he was bad in the series against the Bulls, for whatever reason - injured or bad match up or saving energy for the Finals. He played a lot better in the Finals, and his stats line supported that. However, when needed, Wade did not close games; when needed, Wade did not shut down anyone, not to mention Dallas' best player. For those promoted Wade to MVP or even "God-mode" in the game thread, they ought to look at the real numbers - wins. LeBron delivered them ECF, what did Wade do?
I hate Kobe as much as a Denver female resident but Wade isnt anywhere as good as Kobe was offensively... Wade may make more eyepopping defensive plays...but Kobe was a one man wrecking machine in his prime...
All of this Heat doomsday stuff (ie acting like the Heat are done because they lost the series) is silly. Yes, Lebron wilted and Wade choked in game six, but the reality is that this team got within 2 wins of a title in their first year together. They have a washed up PG, a 6'9 center, and no depth to speak of. Upgrade a couple of those things and they will get a ring. I hope it doesn't happen, but I'm pretty sure it will.
