RealGM

Who had the better finals?

Wade rather easily.

Wade easily. Dirk wasn’t that great finals that year It was just good.

I think Wade. He scored better, likely created better than Dirk, and also was probably more a more valuable defender as I think he was just generally more active in getting into passing lane and such (even though I think 11 Dirk was fine in that regard). Both had about a cTOV% (creation-adjusted turnover rate, or turnovers committed as a percentage of offensive load) of 9%, so I don't believe either or really had a decisive edge in taking care of the ball either.

06 Wade in the Finals

34.7 points, 3.8 assists, 9.7 rebs, 2.7 steals, and 2 blocks per game on a rTS% of 4.8%. He is estimated to have created about 6.3 shots per 100 possessions.

BPM-11.4

GameScore-25.4

11 Dirk in the Finals

26 points, 2 assists, 7.8 rebs, 0.7 steals and 0.7 blocks per game on a rTS% of 1.9%. He is estimated to have created about 4.7 shots per 100 possessions.

BPM-2.6

GameScore-16.6

Another small thing in Wade's favor is that he played 3.2 more minutes per game, and I suppose you could argue that also helped his team because they didn't have to replace him with a less valuable player in those mins, although it feels so insignificant considering the mountain of evidence, I shared prior.

I think Wade in 2011 was better than Dirk in the finals.

So I'd take 2006 Wade clearly here.

Yea Wade was the best player in '11 Finals series so 06 takes this easily. The mystique of Dirk's run is simply due to the fact that he dismantled KD, Kobe, Lebron/Wade on his way to win a title. A title he desperately needed for his resume as the general consensus was that he was a choker up until that point.

Had Bron played 15% better (which would still be much under his averages) then Heat win and Wade has 2FMVPs and 4 titles, probably replacing where most have Dirk currently in the all time list (or basically some where in 14-16 range).

Dirk had a pretty mediocre finals, he was incredible leading up to the finals. The flu game and then IDK, seems like the pressure might have got to him in the clinching game because he was throwing up bricks lol. So Wade pretty easily.

This is honestly an insult to Wade lol. If we're being real, Dirk wasn't even better than Wade in 2011, let alone 2006.

you can only conclude Wade was better than Dirk in 2011 if you look retroactively at box scores and see Dirk didn't maintain his all-world efficiency from the first 3 rounds.

Dirk was the sole focus of the Miami defense and in a series where all 6 games were decided in the 4th quarter the Heat had no answers for him, he dominated the quarters and had two game-winning drives. Wade meantime was mostly defended by Jason Terry while Dallas was putting their best defenders on Lebron and zoning him up.

Context always matters more than just stats.


As to the OP, this is obviously 06 Wade who was transcendent in that series.

Wade for performance, Dirk for team