The Playoff Round: 2010 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals (Heat lose 1-4)
The Player & The Line: Dwyane Wade, 33.2 PPG, 5,6 RPG, 6.8 APG, 1.6 SPG, 1.6 BPG on 56-41-68 shooting splits
The Context: I put Wade’s Game 4 into my all-time individual games list, but Wade was excellent throughout this series despite having very little help around him. The Heat averaged a paltry 87.6 PPG as a team, meaning Wade was accounting for over half of the Heat’s total scoring game in and game out. As such, I ultimately rank this higher than his 2011 series against Boston despite losing (the Heat’s second-leading scorer in the 2010 series was Mario Chalmers, who averaged 10.8 PPG, versus LeBron James, who averaged 28.0 PPG vs Boston in 2011).
Perhaps the series goes a little differently if Miami doesn’t suffer a heartbreaking, buzzer-beating jumper by in Game 3 of this series. Tied 2-2 instead of salvaging a sweep at 1-3, we may have gotten even more Wade magic.