Jordan averaged 32.3/7.0/6.0 on 45.7% shooting in the 1997 Finals, and was just as, if not more clutch, and played a lot better defense, too. That's better than 34.4/7.4/3.6 on similar shooting.
If MJ has the edge, it's a small edge. I do wonder why Wade doesn't guard Jason Terry more often though, he'd do it better than anyone else on Miami and Jet's hurting them.
no guard is up there with shaq. but is unfair to compare wade, MJ or even kobe to shaq.
shaq is inhumanly strong and for a guy his size he is (was in his prime) lightning quick. being a center also makes him a terrific rebounder/shot blocker and intimidator which a guard cant be.
name other player not named shaq or wilt who can proclaim himself as the MDE.
Last edited by lakers-city : 09-23-2006 at 07:58 PM.
please do not compare dwayne wade to MJ. if the game was being called like it is now when MJ was playing he would have averaged 45+ ppg. dwayne wade scores around half of his point from the foul line.
no one compared wade and MJ, people were saying that this was the best performance for a guard since MJ's 41 points per game against phoenix in 1993 and i dont agree with that, MJ played better than wade in 1997 and 1998 but after MJ retired no guard had played like wade did.
i dont know... i feel liek alot of the new great performances have a lot to do with how the game is being called. i mean, how many of those points are scored from the FT line? back in the day wade would have been stopped from getting to the rim all the time. if you look at his shooting percentages he is below average from everywhere except in the paint.
talking playoff performances last year, i might go as far as to say that LBJ's performance against detroit was better than wade. wade had shaq to force the double teams and all the shooters around him....LBJ didnt have nearly the level of help Wade had.
Jordan's '97 Finals were at the very least comparable statistically (32.3 pts/7.0 reb/6.0 ast), and he had two game-winners (game 1 and the 3 to put the Jazz away at the end in game 5) and a game-winning assist in that series alone, so that puts him over the top of Wade's performance imo. Just that one series provided us with many signature moments: the game-winner over Russell; the entire flu game including the dagger 3; and the pass to Kerr to ice it in game 6.
the only difference in defensive quickness I can see is in new-age big men who can guard the perimeter.
wade would not perform anywhere near how he did with the same defensive pressure that bird, magic johnson, and jordan had to deal with. keep in mind how many of his points came from the FT line compared to the old stars. A lot more.
wade is good at dribble penetration but hes a poor shooter.
