<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">MIAMI ? Until now, any mention of Dwyane Wade and Michael Jordan in the same sentence was made with a bit of reservation. But the names are being linked more frequently and more seriously after Wade's scintillating performance in Miami's 101-100 overtime victory in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Wade scored 43 points, including a game-tying bank shot at the end of regulation and two game-winning free throws in overtime. Even Scottie Pippen, who was to Jordan what Shaquille O'Neal has become to Wade, admitted the comparisons "are valid" after Sunday's game. Heat forward Antoine Walker said Wade "took over all facets of the game. Kind of how Michael Jordan did it back in '91 and '92 when he really dominated the Finals." Wade scored 17 points in the fourth quarter and four more in overtime, pushing the Heat to within one game of its first NBA title. Overall, he has been every bit Jordan's equal if you compare their first appearances in the Finals. Wade is averaging 34.4 points in the first five games. Jordan averaged 31.2 in his first Finals, a five-game victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in 1991. Wade is averaging almost a rebound more (7.4 to 6.6) and Jordan had a wide edge in assists (11.4 to 3.6). But Jordan did not get to the line nearly as much, averaging 6.6 trips to Wade's 12.6. "They put the ball in my hands, so they expect a lot out of me," Wade said Sunday. "So I have to come through for coach Riley and the coaches and my teammates ... who say, 'Hey, Dwyane, go to work.' " Wade's circuitous drives and splitting of double- and triple-teams is doing more than breaking down the Mavericks' defense and causing foul trouble. It's causing the team ? from owner Mark Cuban to coach Avery Johnson to the players ? to waste time and energy worrying about the officiating. The Mavericks complained vehemently about Wade shooting as many free throws (25) as their team took Sunday, but on some nights Wade takes the ball to the rim as much as the entire Dallas team, especially in Game 5, when Dallas swingman Jerry Stackhouse was suspended. Driving tenaciously to the rim is part of Wade's personality as a player, Heat coach Pat Riley said. "It is now and probably forever will be," Riley said. "He's very, very smart when they are in the penalty. ... He's not going to accept anything else but go to the basket. So he gets fouled a lot on the floor, and guys are bumping and banging on him and he gets to the line." Wade does more to frustrate an opponent than anybody in basketball. Who else had more to do with Cuban's verbal assault on the officials after Game 5 and Dirk Nowitzki's assault on the basketball, an exercise bicycle and furniture on the way to the Mavericks' locker room? Remind you of anybody else in, say, the past 20 years?</div> Source
