So far these playoffs, the Bulls still haven’t gotten much production from Dwayne Wade. This series was supposed to be justification for paying Wade what the front office did and he has not come through in the first four games. He played better in Game 5, though his performance was far from perfect.
Last year Wade was great in the post season, the same can’t be said for this series against Boston. Wade really could have helped push this team past the Celtics. Poor shot selection and severely bad defense have made Wade a net negative for the Bulls.
Tonight was his best game statistically this series. He had 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Though in the end, it didn’t feel like his production was enough. He nearly had a triple-double though he also had four turnovers and only shot 38.9 percent from the field.
When Wade is missing shots it hurts the Bulls offense more than when other guys miss shots because of how difficult and out of rhythm with the offense they are. He disrupts a ball-moving offense with clunky isolation mid-range jumpers. Tough for role guys to get going when they are watching Wade shoot another mid-range turnaround jumper with a hand in his face.
And then there was his defense. Wade looked out of sorts on some plays, as bad as he has all season.
Someone tell Wade he's on defense pic.twitter.com/gR0w6XIxMQ
— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) April 27, 2017
In this clip, Wade didn’t’ bother to close out the 3-point shooter or rebound Avery Bradley below the rim. All around effortless play from Wade. This was the case for most of his defensive possessions in Game 5.