- Report: Boston Celtics upgrade Al Horford’s status for Game 2 of Eastern Conference Finals
- Report: Boston Celtics to be without key role player in Game 2 vs. Miami Heat
- Max Strus strongly shuts down idea that he wants revenge against Celtics in ECF
- Jay Williams: ‘Jimmy Butler’s name belongs in the same breath with Michael Jordan’
- Jimmy Butler’s message to Stephen A. Smith: ‘You and everybody else have slept on me’
- Report: Jimmy Butler wondered if his heated altercation with Erik Spoelstra during the regular season was a ‘breaking point’
- Jimmy Butler’s savage comments after Game 1 win: ‘I like physicality, I want to run into people and see who falls down first’
- Dwyane Wade gives Jimmy Butler his flowers after masterful Game 1 performance vs. Celtics
- Report: Boston Celtics lose 2 starters ahead of ECF Game 1 vs. Miami Heat
- Scout bashes Tyler Herro, says he hasn’t shown he’s a productive option behind Jimmy Butler
Numbers Show That Dwyane Wade Is Dominating on Defensive End This Season
- Updated: December 4, 2018

With 15 games under his belt during his final season, Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade is not only putting up impressive offensive numbers for a 36-year-old – he’s also holding his own on the defensive end.
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This guy @DwyaneWade is pretty good.
Old man is still getting it done on the defensive end, too. Dwyane's defensive assignments are shooting 9.3% worse than their season averages.
2nd best among guards, 5th overall (min 100 DFGA)
— Mozfart (@SkinnyMcGhee) December 3, 2018
The stat helps tell a story that other defensive metrics hide. On paper, Wade’s -1.90 in Real Defensive Plus-Minus is not remarkable, sitting at 79th among current shooting guards. And his steals and blocks per game are below his career averages, even when you account for his reduced playing time.
But at the end of the day, what matters is whether your opponent can get around you or shoot over you. And in this regard, the Heat great is simply dominating.
In what some consider one of the most reliable metrics of defensive effectiveness, Wade is reducing his opponents’ field-goal percentage in shots at the rim. When his man attempts a shot within six feet of the basket, he makes it 8.9 percent less of the time than he does against other opponents. This puts Wade at seventh in the league among active guards.
In comparison, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is reducing his opponents’ effectiveness within six feet of the basket by 8.6 percent.
And as he shuts down his opponents, Father Prime is also on a quest to pass Michael Jordan in career blocks.
While Wade is using his “One Last Dance” to make an important defensive contribution, he’s also putting up some impressive stats on the offensive end of the court. The 16-year veteran out of Marquette University is scoring 15.3 points a game and averaging 3.5 assists, while shooting 38.7 percent from deep. That last number is by far the best three-point shooting mark of his career, in which he has averaged 29.1 percent from beyond the arc.
Regardless of whether Wade can help the Heat make the playoffs, he is giving everyone a season to remember.
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