Dwyane Wade Was More Of A ‘Thorn’ In Roy Hibbert’s Side Than LeBron James In The ‘Heatles’ Era

It is often regarded that LeBron James played the most dominant basketball of his career during his stint with the Miami Heat. James is also massively credited for Erik Spoelstra’s team winning two titles for the same reason. However, Roy Hibbert changed this narrative by claiming that the early to mid 2010s Indiana Pacers had worried more about Dwyane Wade than LBJ.

“Myself and the Indiana Pacers went to war with the Miami Heatles back in the day. But, as great as LeBron James was and still is, Dwyane Wade was actually more of a thorn in my side,” Hibbert said.

Bron was still the better player among the two. However, the Pacers struggled with three of Wade’s abilities – off-ball cuts, offensive rebounding, and defense – in particular, as claimed by Hibbert.

D-Wade was a great shooter in the mid range. However, some traits made him stand out from his competition. The arrival of LeBron diminished Wade’s on-ball role. in response to the hierarchy shifting on the Heat, he did improve his game off the ball to maintain his productivity.

The Flash was also a terrific rebounder for his size. Despite being merely 6ft 4”, the Marquette alum was able to strategically place himself in the paint to grab rebounds over taller players. The 1.4 offensive rebounds that he collected per game during the Heatles era led to numerous second-chance baskets.

Finally, Wade’s defensive prowess increased his worth massively. He was able to guard players of all positions and recorded multiple stocks (steals + blocks) due to his court awareness. Wade was successful in carrying out the responsibility to defend Paul George, containing the latter to merely 15.1 points per game.

Wade could contribute to the team in multiple ways. As a result, the Florida side was able to overcome the Pacers in three straight playoff clashes.

Wade and the Heatles dominated their matchups against the Pacers

Being in the same conference, the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers faced each other on multiple occasions during the regular season. During the Heatles era, the Pacers were also one of the best teams in the East. As a result, the two franchises often faced each other in the postseason.

The Pacers and the Heat would meet in three straight playoffs – second round of the 2012 postseason, conference finals of the 2013 and 2014 postseason.

Years after their constant meetings towards the tail end of the playoff, Paul George even reminisced over the Heat-Pacers clashes. PG once explained why it was tough to get past LeBron James and co.

“We hit the fork in the road, where we went up against a team that was more talented and just better than us. Our talent took us so far that we were outmatched at that point,” George said.

The 2010-2014 Heat is often regarded as one of the best teams in NBA history. Given the talent on the squad, the Pacers fared pretty well. Frank Vogel’s boys gave the Heat great competition, forcing two of these series to six games and one to a Game 7.