If not for Wade’s sinusitis the flu and the aforementioned rib muscle the Heat probably would have held onto

If not for Wade’s sinusitis, the flu, and the aforementioned rib muscle, the Heat probably would have held onto their 3-2 series lead against the Pistons, and had a great shot to beat the Spurs in the 2005 Finals.Have we forgotten what happened 24 months ago when Dwyane Wade was putting on one of the greatest individual show in recent Finals memory? How about 16 free throws a game, shattering the old NBA Finals attempts record? Then there is 34.7 points per game in the Finals, the third highest average all-time.I understand, the Mavs choked, but after the 2006 Finals, Wade was being called the closest thing to MJ since MJ. Has he really fallen so far? Has Lebron really widened the gap between the two? Is there really even a gap?Ok those Finals are ancient history by sport standards The Heat were 11-50 when Wade shut it down. The arena was empty on South Beach, people would rather party than watch the Heat get blown out again, or lose another close game.Wade has carried this team on his shoulders since Day 1. I don’t want to hear that Lebron has too and look, he has higher scoring numbers. I already showed that if Wade was a Lebron-style ball-hog, he’d have Oscar Robertson-type numbers. And it wasn’t until last year’s playoffs and this season that Lebron started showing up in the fourth quarter.It wasn’t until this season Lebron started making free throws.

Since Wade’s second year he has been one of the best closers in the NBA. If the Heat were in games late, especially if they were ahead, Wade would take over.Wade’s body has taken a beating and he still has carried his team, still played hard, and hasn’t taken garbage shots.He could have been be padding his stats, hoping to get another huge contract. Instead, Wade was getting 6.9 assists per game, 12th in the NBA and behind only Allen Iverson in shooting guards. Only 3 players in the NBA this season were in the top 10 in scoring and the top 15 in assists: Wade, AI, Lebron.I understand Wade had the lowest winning percentage of any All-Star ever. Kobe couldn’t take his team all the way without help, that is how his team wound up in the lottery to grab Andrew Bynum. Only since the Lakers picked up Gasol and Bynum started playing like an All-Star have the Lakers been in the championship discussion.Wade’s team is terrible. Shawn Marion is the only player who could start on just about every other team in the league Udonis Haslem could start on maybe half.

Beyond that, the team has lost Jason Kapono, Antoine Walker, Gary Payton, Alonzo Mourning, James Posey not to mention some guy who goes by “Shaq” from its championship team and replaced them with a bunch of backups.Wade’s arc was still rising when Shane Battier dislocated his shoulder last season. We still see the flashes of his brilliance when he splits 3 defenders and scores on a reverse lay-up.Wade has battled through the shoulder injury and the soreness from off-season knee-surgery all season and still managed to put up all-star numbers. The Heat are rebuilding, but they will do it around one of the best young players in the game.His team’s record belies his unique gifts Fall down 7, stand up 8, that was the commercial. Put Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, or OJ Mayo next to a healthy and rested Wade and Marion next season and I think you’ll see: The 2007-08 Miami heat are terrible, but you can’t blame Wade.Just like management said, it is awfully tough to rebuild around Dwyane Wade if he’s playing in Chicago That is why it won’t happen.. Let’s face it. If Big Brown still has four hoofs after a mile and a half he’ll be the first Triple Crown horse since Affirmed in 1978.

He is racing against arguably the weakest Belmont field in thirty years. The other “contender” to Big Brown is a Japanese horse with one career race in America. Granted, it was a good victory at Belmont but realistically a Japanese horse is not winning the Belmont Stakes. Dennis of Cork closed for third in the Kentucky Derby and Tale of Ekati came behind him in fourth, and that’s basically the field D. Wayne Lukas doesn’t have a horse in the race and he specializes in training horses for this leg of the Triple Crown Bob Baffert doesn’t have a horse either. The horse racing world has put the Triple Crown on a platter and Big Brown is sniffing it.