In the next couple of weeks, we'll find out whether LeBron James' decision to join the Miami Heat will allow him to win his first championship and accomplish what he was never able to in Cleveland. We don't know what effect that will ultimately have on his legacy. What we do know is that LeBron's coming to the Heat might have been the best thing to ever happen to the legacy of Dwyane Wade.
Let's take a look at the events of the past two games. When the Heat failed to close out Game 4 against Philadelphia, the overwhelming majority of the blame was placed on LeBron after he had a potential game-tying floater blocked on the Heat's final possession. This was the case even though Wade had missed a pull-up jumper one possession earlier and had two 3s drained right in his face. The outcry was unanimous: Wade should have taken the last shot.
Of course, Wade is 0-5 in last-shot situations this season, but every one of those shots was apparently impressive enough to make LeBron's failed floater particularly egregious.
When the Heat actually managed to win a close one in Game 5, there were some issues with Wade's performance in the waning minutes of the game. After he missed on an out-of-control layup attempt that Chris Bosh rebounded and drew a foul on, Wade received a technical foul for taking issue with the non-call.
Think about that for a second: In a one-possession game, Wade cost his team a point for arguing that he should be shooting free throws instead of his teammate, who happens to be a better free throw shooter.
Later in the game, with the final seconds ticking off the clock and the 76ers declining to foul, Wade punctuated the series with an uncontested dunk that Spencer Hawes would later call "bush league." It was the kind of behavior that becomes an instant controversy with LeBron, but it was a non-issue with Wade, just like the technical foul.
Imagine, just for a second, what the reaction would have been if James had been whistled for the technical, then thrown in that salt-in-the-wound dunk to end the series. While the power of winning as the ultimate deodorant should never be underestimated, I can't imagine that those things would have been complete non-issues if James had done them.
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After Miami lost game 4, all I heard or read in the national media was how "Wade needs to be the closer," ad nauseum. I was baffled. I watched that game. I saw how it broke down. If Wade wasn't "The Closer" in that game, I don't know who was. With the Heat up 6 with a little over a minute left, Wade was handling the ball. Wade was taking the shots or making the pass.
Those offensive possessions all were empty, with the Heat failing to score a single point. On the defensive end it was Wade's man who shot 3's in his face, on back to back possessions. Jrue Holiday first, Wade couldn't be bothered to even contest that shot. He actually admired it as if he himself shot it. Lou Williams the second, that shot he did contest, but in my opinion he should've been playing him alot tighter to begin with.
In that context, with Wade "taking over" and losing the lead almost single handedly, with 8 seconds left did Lebron attempt to tie the game with a shot that Elton Brand swatted. I get that it's the cool thing to do to knock Lebron every chance you get. "The Decision" was so ill conceived that he is now a horrible person and it's okay to wish failure upon him, never mind that we all watched it. But I still live in the world where you don't blame one man for another mans shortcomings, and you don't give people a pass, if you're going to knock someone for the exact same thing. But maybe it's just me.
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