Where does Wade's 06 finals performance rank all time?

[Texas Chuck]

Mavs fans, Kobe stans, LeBron stans, Bulls fans = not even TOP 20

Hmmmmm So I guess I don't think very highly of his 06 Finals anymore.....

[Pg81]

It was good, but inflated due to an absurd amount of FTs imho. Wade was nigh untouchable from game 3 onward.

[cpower]

Mavs fans, Kobe stans, LeBron stans, Bulls fans = not even TOP 20

Wade homers: GOAT

I wrote it already in another thread, but I have no problem to post it in here as well. The biggest problem I have with Wade is that he got calls which were often downright absurd. Just saying he got those only because of relentlessly driving to the hoop is bullsh*t. I started following the NBA in 1980 and I have NEVER (no, not even in Jordan days) seen a player getting such an amount of bad calls. Yes, I saw the stats Ray posted above regarding Jordan, but IMO those calls were still more justified than the crap Wade got. And averaging 18.25 FT over a 4 game stretch is just silly.

That's a comparison between the FT's Wade and Dirk got in 2006:


FT's attempted:
Dirk: 229
Wade: 250

FT's per game:
Dirk: 9.956
Wade: 10.869

FT's made:
Dirk: 205
Wade: 202

FT-percentage:
Dirk: .895
Wade: .808

Just for the 2006 Finals:

FT's attempted:
Dirk: 55
Wade: 97

FT's per game:
Dirk: 9.16
Wade: 16.16

FT's made:
Dirk: 49
Wade: 75

FT-percentage:
Dirk: .891
Wade: .773


FT's per game split into games 1-2
Dirk: 8.5
Wade: 12.0

FT's per game split into games 3-6:
Dirk: 9.5
Wade: 18.25!!!!! This is downright absurd

You can also look at the team stats in short:

Mavs: 26, 28, 26, 27, 25, 23 = 155
Heat: 19, 32, 34, 36, 49, 37 = 207

Game 3
D. Wade: 18 Free Throws (entire Heat team 34)

Entire Dallas team: 26 Free Throws

Margin of victory: Heat by 2

Game 5
D. Wade: 25 Free Throws (entire Heat team 49)

Entire Dallas team: 25 Free Throws

Margin of victory: Heat by 1

Game 6
D. Wade: 21 Free Throws (entire Heat team 37)

Entire Dallas team: 23 Free Throws

Margin of victory: Heat by 3

in other words, refs decide games.

[G35]

It's very good considering the numbers.

I just don't give it a lot of credibility, particularly games 5 and 6 where Wade could not be touched and shot 46 FT's.....

Jordan 85 playoffs = 16 & 20 FT's in last 2 games of series.
Jordan 86 playoffs = averaged 18 FTA over the first 2 games of a 3 game series.
Jordan 89 playoffs = had games of 28 / 27 / 17 / 15 / 15 FTA.
Jordan 92 playoffs = 3g of +17 FTA.
Jordan 93 playoffs = 2g of 17+FTA.
Jordan 97 playoffs = 21 & 16 FTA games.
Jordan 98 playoffs = 1 games above 20+FTA, 2 games above 17+FTA, 3 games above 15+FTA.

Kobe 2001 playoffs = two back to back 19+FTA games.
Kobe 2012 playoffs = 2g above 17+FTA.

If an old creaky 1998 Jordan can have multiple games with 17+ FT's and a game above 20 why can't a Prime Wade with beneficial rules get two 20+ games?
If an injured, old & turtle slow 2012 Kobe can somehow get two 17+FTA games in the playoffs why can't Wade have 4 of them?
Look at what 89 Jordan did. Games of 28 & 27FTA. Why doesn't that year get discredited?

Seems like Wade is unfairly singled out. Like it is somehow strange that a GOAT slasher could get a huge number of FT's in a year where the rules were clearly softened.
Oh wait that isn't strange its makes perfect sense.

First off 17...19...is not equal to 21 or 25. 46 FT's in two games. This is crucial considering the Heat won Game 5 by one point and game 6 by 3pts.

Yes, it does make sense that players were getting more FT's and given more protection under the rules. If you feel that Wade's performance is deserving, that's you, I don't.

Imo, that's like saying all the QB's nowadays that are averaging 60% completion rates and routinely throwing over 5,000 yards when the rules are clearly softened to protect QB's and WR's and penalize the defense are automatically GOAT performances. It's why I don't think all these current PG's are as great as people make them out to be because of the rule changes/interpretations.....

[pacers33granger]

For finals series not mentioned yet, I'd throw in Ricky Barry in 74-75. I wasn't alive to watch it personally, but his stats for the whole playoffs is great and that's always regarded as one of the greatest runs.

[improper]

Definitely Top 3

No one couldn't stop him, had the godlike numbers to prove it, and he had an epic 0-2 story-line to go with it

They couldn't stop him because they literally were not allowed to come within a foot of him or he'd shoot free throws.

[Swagalicious]

Definitely Top 3

No one couldn't stop him, had the godlike numbers to prove it, and he had an epic 0-2 story-line to go with it

They couldn't stop him because they literally were not allowed to come within a foot of him or he'd shoot free throws.

This

I'd agree with Ardee's list, pretty spot on.

[ardee]

I think a lot of this Wade nostalgia is because of how **** he is right now He was never as great as people like to think he was these days.

[MisterHibachi]

I think a lot of this Wade nostalgia is because of how **** he is right now He was never as great as people like to think he was these days.

Where do you rank his 09 season?

[PaulieWal]

I think a lot of this Wade nostalgia is because of how **** he is right now He was never as great as people like to think he was these days.

I think it's the other way around. People act like he was never that good because he is what he is now. He was a legit top 3-5 player in the league in his prime/peak and in the conversation as an equal of LeBron/Kobe and other wing players.

[cyclix]

I think a lot of this Wade nostalgia is because of how **** he is right now He was never as great as people like to think he was these days.

please.2009 wade was a great to elite in every aspect of the game. it's legitimate for us to think that he was as good as LeBron that season, if not better.

[Texas Chuck]

Am I the only guy who thinks Wade is better now than he is being given credit for? Is he anywhere near the elite player he was at his peak? No, of course not. And does he miss too many games? Yeah, but he always did that. IMO he's still a very dangerous offensive player. It's kinda like NJG in that Duncan thread where he insists that because Duncan isn't as good as he once was that he's no longer any good at all. Wade is still a very good player.

[Greatness]

If we're gonna discredit the numbers Wade put up in that series because of the free throws, why don't we do that for every player? Why can't I say Shaq only has 3 rings because 2002 vs the Kings shouldn't count, or whatever. Wade got to the line a lot, deal with it. Rate his performance on stuff that actually happened, not what might have happened if it was reffed differently.

[G35]

If we're gonna discredit the numbers Wade put up in that series because of the free throws, why don't we do that for every player? Why can't I say Shaq only has 3 rings because 2002 vs the Kings shouldn't count, or whatever. Wade got to the line a lot, deal with it. Rate his performance on stuff that actually happened, not what might have happened if it was reffed differently.

I do agree with your point also. There should be more weight given to what actually happened than extenuating circumstances....like who your coach is, who your teammates are, did they play in the 60'/70's/80's/90's, did they play in the ABA, did they get injured, did they come in straight out of high school, are they old, is their management cheap, did someone sleep with another players wife.

We should have a no excuses list where it's just about results and nothing else matters.....

[Greatness]

If we're gonna discredit the numbers Wade put up in that series because of the free throws, why don't we do that for every player? Why can't I say Shaq only has 3 rings because 2002 vs the Kings shouldn't count, or whatever. Wade got to the line a lot, deal with it. Rate his performance on stuff that actually happened, not what might have happened if it was reffed differently.

I do agree with your point also. There should be more weight given to what actually happened than extenuating circumstances....like who your coach is, who your teammates are, did they play in the 60'/70's/80's/90's, did they play in the ABA, did they get injured, did they come in straight out of high school, are they old, is their management cheap, did someone sleep with another players wife.

We should have a no excuses list where it's just about results and nothing else matters.....

Nice straw man

[G35]

If we're gonna discredit the numbers Wade put up in that series because of the free throws, why don't we do that for every player? Why can't I say Shaq only has 3 rings because 2002 vs the Kings shouldn't count, or whatever. Wade got to the line a lot, deal with it. Rate his performance on stuff that actually happened, not what might have happened if it was reffed differently.

I do agree with your point also. There should be more weight given to what actually happened than extenuating circumstances....like who your coach is, who your teammates are, did they play in the 60'/70's/80's/90's, did they play in the ABA, did they get injured, did they come in straight out of high school, are they old, is their management cheap, did someone sleep with another players wife.

We should have a no excuses list where it's just about results and nothing else matters.....

Nice straw man

Why is it a strawman? You said we should rate performance on stuff that actually happened. I agree with you. I think there are too many excuses given. This is not the "what if" board.....

[Hornet Mania]

A great performance, no doubt, but I don't hold it as highly as others simply due to the insane amount of free throws. It's hardly Wade's fault, he didn't force anyone to blow a whistle, but nonetheless it was really unpleasant to witness. I didn't have any dog in that fight and I still felt like the Mavs got hosed.

I know that will rub a lot of people the wrong way, and that's fine, if you can deal with a free throw parade in the championship round then so be it. To me it was a disgrace to the game, point blank. The new rule changes had just been instituted and unfortunately the officials were completely over their heads by the end, and it detracted from the beauty of the game and killed any sort of flow. It made quality defense essentially impossible, because even the slightest contact was quickly whistled a foul. Wade is a great player, one of the best that has ever lived, so I don't mean this as a personal attack on him. It could have been any great slasher in his place, by the end of that series things were being called so tight it was disgusting. I'll never be able to properly contextualize Wade's 2006 Finals performance for that reason. On the one hand he was playing great, and I recognize that. But on the other hand officiating was so atrociously in his favor that it became laughable by the midpoint of the series and degraded even further from there. To compare his 2006 Finals to other historical performances does them a disservice. I essentially view it in a vacuum. It was a great individual performance coinciding with, in my view, the worst officiating in a championship series in the history of professional sports. Very difficult to reconcile that.

[Zasterror]

It's really not as egregious as many made it out to be. Hell some Mavs fans agree that the FT/Wade/Officiating argument is totally irrelevant. I understand if it was a player that wasn't really known for going to the FT line much and then all of the sudden broke FT records in the Finals. But this was Prime Wade, he averaged 10+ FTAs a game at ease during regular seasons. He is one of the greatest, if not, the best slasher in history.

[Exodus]

It was ok. Over rated on realgm. He was being singled team against a small opponent, he should of had his way offensively. Plus the refs were giving him a lot of gift calls. This was during the time when Cuban and Stern were going at it , so Wade was a benefactor of generous officiating.

[Perkele]

A great performance, no doubt, but I don't hold it as highly as others simply due to the insane amount of free throws. It's hardly Wade's fault, he didn't force anyone to blow a whistle, but nonetheless it was really unpleasant to witness. I didn't have any dog in that fight and I still felt like the Mavs got hosed.

I know that will rub a lot of people the wrong way, and that's fine, if you can deal with a free throw parade in the championship round then so be it. To me it was a disgrace to the game, point blank. The new rule changes had just been instituted and unfortunately the officials were completely over there heads by the end, and it detracted from the beauty of the game and killed any sort of flow. It made quality defense essentially impossible, because even the slightest contact was quickly whistled a foul. Wade is a great player, one of the best that has ever lived, so I don't mean this as a personal attack on him. It could have been any great slasher in his place, by the end of that series things were being called so tight it was disgusting. I'll never be able to properly contextualize Wade's 2006 Finals performance for that reason. On the one hand he was playing great, and I recognize that. But on the other hand officiating was so atrociously in his favor that it became laughable by the midpoint of the series and degraded even further from there. To compare his 2006 Finals to other historical performances does them a disservice. I essentially view it in a vacuum. It was a great individual performance coinciding with, in my view, the worst officiating in a championship series in the history of professional sports. Very difficult to reconcile that.

Couldn't have said it any better. As I already stated before, I have no problems to admit that the refs didn't make the Mavs missing buckets, especially in game 3 when they were up 12 or something like that with about 7-8 minutes to go. If the Mavs had just scored, they would have won game 3 and very likely the series.

However, that doesn't nullify the bullsh*t calls Wade got. If you look how close the games 3, 5 and 6 were, without Wade having that parade to the charity stripe the Mavs would have won in 2006 despite missing a few buckets here and there, I'm sure of that.