There are a lot of things that the NBA world learned by watching the Miami Heat throughout the entire 2013-2014 season. Dwyane Wade is no longer a superstar, Chris Bosh is inconsistent, LeBron James refuses to have the Michael Jordan mentally on a night-to-night basis and the Heat are old.
Yet, there is something that can’t be made anymore clearer after watching its demise in the Finals. It’s time for the ‘Big Three’ era to end.
The San Antonio Spurs not only beat the Heat, it ran Miami off the court. All while James had his best statistical performance in his Finals career in averaging 28 points and eight rebounds per game while shooting 57 percent from the field and 52 percent from beyond the arc.
Yes, reread that.
His play in this mismatch of a series showed the world why he can’t receive all the blame for this series since there were two other All-Stars on this team. Wade had more turnovers than assists, averaged a Finals career low 15 points per game and we still haven’t seen him since the Game 3 YMCA-styled onslaught led by Kawhi Leonard.
In the two biggest games of the Heat’s three-peat season the “second” best player demonstrated how long it’s been since he was the Finals MVP. Wade scored 21 points and shot 7-of-25 in Games 4 and 5.
No, not precious Wade?
Not the Chicago-born native who had to help LeBron win his first two championships by being injured then too? Clearly the “D” in D-Wade stands for durability right?
Wade missed 28 games this season and despite the Heat coasting through the Eastern Conference still managed to flat-out stink in June. The player who once dunked on James’ former teammate Anderson Varejo (check YouTube) and would have won the 2011 Finals MVP had Miami captured the championship is gone forever.
Excuses can be made about Wade being healthy but at a certain point of time, maybe being unhealthy is the norm. The only reason why Wade isn’t being kicked out of Miami is because of his friendship with Lebron. In terms of basketball, his lack of ability to space the floor with a consistent long-range jumper, inconsistent ability to stay in the Heat lineup for an 82-game season and his declining athleticism, Wade is not the right shooting guard for the four-time MVP.
And for all the hoopla that makes Miami Wade’s city remember who has brought more MVPs and championships to the city.
As for Bosh’s poor performance in the Final two games there is no excuse.
Bosh wasn’t a superstar when he came to South Beach. In addition he missed two games this entire year, playoffs included. According to Chris Broussard, if Bosh had signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers back in 2010, James would have never left. So Bosh averaging 14 points in this year’s Finals isn’t as big a deal. He is the player who sacrificed the most on the offensive end and had to completely change his game.
In his last five seasons as a Toronto Raptor, Bosh averaged over 22 points per game. In other words he needs to play his natural position which is power forward and get more shots. He shot 54.9 percent from the field in the Finals. His ability to shoot 40 percent from three and create mismatches due to his offensive versatility fit James’ style of play more than Wade.
Pat Riley can preach all he wants about having guts and fine-tuning the team but the biggest change has to be the shooting guard who can’t jump, shoot, defend and is owed over 40 million, if he chooses to opt-in this summer.
Eleven years into the league and Wade has never played an entire 82-game season.
With all his knee problems and four straight trips to the Finals, what can make his future brighter? The only way he can help the Heat is if he gets a suit joining Riley and Alonzo Mourning in the stands. After the way Danny Green (an undrafted free agent who barely made the Spurs roster) outplayed him in the Finals, the “Big Three” era has come to an unceremonious and unexpected end.
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