For the series, the Heat have scored 131.7 points per 100 possessions when James is on the floor without Wade, and just 100.8 when the two have shared the floor, per NBA.com. The Heat are minus-12 for the series, but the James–Mike Miller–Ray Allen super-shooting trio is a crazy plus-50 in just 68 minutes, per NBA.com. The James-Miller-Chalmers trio is plus-43 in just 80 minutes, and the combination of those four players is a stunning plus-49 in just 29 total minutes together, per NBA.com.
Which is to say, depending on the flow of Game 7, Erik Spoelstra’s hook on Wade has to be quicker. This is the entire season on the line. He cannot just roll with Wade like it’s 2006 or 2008, trusting Wade’s “warrior” nature and big-game reputation. And he certainly cannot reserve precious late-game out-of-timeout possessions for Wade plays, as he did in calling for a Wade post-up with 2:40 left and the Heat up 87-84. Wade is 6-of-27 on post-ups during the playoffs, per Synergy Sports. He has drawn exactly zero fouls on those 27 shots. He has turned the ball over on 16 percent of his post-up possessions. His post-up game is dead. It might return at any moment — Wade is a crazy shot-maker, as Games 4 and 5 reminded us — but Spoelstra has to operate under the assumption that it is dead until next season.
Would've been the biggest disaster in league history.
