The Miami Heat made franchise history Monday night with a 97-81 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Heat won their 15th consecutive game, a franchise record.
Of all the great players in Miami’s young history – Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Shaquille O’Neal to name a few – none have been able to string together a streak like this.
Enter LeBron James, who we all know has put together one of the most magnificent stretches of basketball we’ve seen in decades during this 15-game win-streak. According to SheridanHoops’ Chris Perkins, you are probably watching the best Heat team ever.
A 16th win Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic will bring LeBron even with Magic Johnson’s longest streak of 16 consecutive wins and two games short of tying Michael Jordan’s best of 18 in a row.
As otherworldly as LeBron’s performance has been (28.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game), it would be unfair to classify this as his win-steak when his primetime co-host, Dwayne Wade, has been every bit as good as James.
Wade’s 25-plus points, six rebounds and six assists per game across the board don’t speak to the high-value of his production.
According to stats.nba.com, Wade is actually ahead of James in a number of key advanced stats – including offensive (119.4) and defensive (101.3) efficiency, +/- (175) and usage rate (31.8 percent).
Wade also carries the highest steal percentage on the team at 31.7% and his usage rate during Miami’s 15-game win-streak ranks as the fourth highest in the league behind Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook and Kobe Bryant.
Points aren’t everything, though, especially when James, Chris Bosh and Ray Allen are flanking you on the wings. While Wade is averaging his lowest point total of his career (21.7), he is being as timely and efficient as he’s ever been.
Wade is performing at this extraordinary level while shooting an impressive 52 percent from the field with a 57 TS% (true shooting) as a 6’4 guard, the highest of his decorated career.
Not to mince words, this is not to say that Wade has been more important than James during this win-streak. The numbers don’t prove it and neither does the eye-test, which we hold in such high regards.
This is also not an attempt to diminish any of James’ accomplishments, but to disperse the credit a little more evenly to see that the play of Wade is not being overlooked.