Dwyane Wade Has Epic Chance to Remind Us of His Greatness in Game 7

With the Miami Heat’s 2015-16 season hanging in the balance Friday night, there was zero doubt who would command control of their crunch-time offense. If Sunday’s win-or-go-fishing Game 7 is to travel a similar path, the story won’t change.

Dwyane Wade is more than Miami’s franchise face.

With Chris Bosh still sidelined and LeBron James back in Northeast Ohio, Wade is the club’s undisputed leader in both stature and statistics. While he’s perhaps a half-step behind the NBA’s uber-elite in the court of public opinion, a(nother) dominant performance could show everyone how much star power remains.

One Game

Of course, his heroic showing late in Game 6 may have already started that momentum. Miami’s series-extending 97-90 win over the Charlotte Hornets featured a team-high 23 points from Wade (plus six rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals), including 10 during the fourth quarter and eight over the final 3:06.

Whatever the Heat needed, their leader incredibly delivered: a pair of three-pointers—his first since mid-December—an incredible fadeaway jumper and a comeback-killing block on a fiery hot Kemba Walker, all in the closing minutes.

“I trust my teammates and I love them, but if we were going to lose, I was going out shooting it,” Wade said, per Heat.com’s Couper Moorhead.

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This was Wade’s killer side, the one often hidden in recent years by both injuries and a far superior supporting cast to the one he’s currently guiding. He led the team in total points this season, but it was the first time he’d paced a playoff outfit in that category since 2009-10.

Not that Friday’s heroics surprised anyone around him.

“I’ve seen Dwyane enough over the years that it just becomes winning plays, whatever those may be,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, per Moorhead. “It’s born out of great competition. It brings the absolute best out in him.”

Former Heat sharpshooter Mike Miller chalked up Friday’s late takeover to an all-time great doing all-time great things:

@DwyaneWade just being DWade.. He’s a LEGEND!! #clutch #purpleshirtguysitdown

— Mike Miller (@MikeMiller_13) April 30, 2016

Considering Wade’s prominent place on the NBA’s all-time hierarchy—the 13-year veteran already holds top-50 career ranks in points (39th), steals (50th), player efficiency rating …

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