Dwyane Wade's Struggles Prove He's No Longer an Elite NBA Player

While LeBron James may now be the Miami Heat's best player, this team isn't going anywhere without Dwyane Wade carrying his share of the load.

That didn't happen in Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Now, the Boston Celtics find themselves tied at two games a piece and in an ostensibly winnable series.

It might not be entirely fair to place the blame for those losses squarely on Wade's shoulders, but nor would it be fair to ignore his shortcomings either. After all, Wade was meant to be LeBron James superstar sidekick—a formula that doesn't work out so well when the sidekick plays like just another run-of-the-mill All-Star.

Wade made just 16 of his 42 field goal attempts in those last two contests—a stark contrast from the game-changer who put up 41 points in Game 6 against the Indiana Pacers.

He was especially bad in the first half of Sunday night's Game 4—a span in which the Heat dug themselves a considerable hole.

This isn't the first time we've seen Wade come up short in this postseason. The Boston Globe's Gary Washburn traces the beginning of his struggles to the Eastern Conference Semifinals:

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Wade’s “Flash’’ hasn’t completely dimmed, but he has endured a challenging postseason. He was 25 for 77 over a four-game stretch, including scoring just five points in Game 3 of the conference semifinals against the Pacers, including getting into a shouting match with coach Erik Spoelstra.

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Of course, Wade apparently had fluid drained from his knee prior to that disastrous Game 3. His success in the latter half of that series seemingly put to rest any doubts about whether he's still the same elite guard we'd all come to know.

Until now.

Wade had every intention of returning to form on Sunday, but he instead had his worst game of the series.

A prototypical slasher, Wade has never been much of a pass-first kind of facilitator. As a result, when teams like Boston throw everything they have at him, the results aren't always pretty.

Instead of making the rest of his team better, Wade is prone to forcing shots or trying to draw fouls. That may have paid better dividends in Miami, but it's led to just five free-throw attempts in his last two games—and those 26 missed shots.

That's not the mark of a player who takes games over at will, nor that of the same Dwyane Wade who won a championship in 2006.

And, as good as Wade unquestionably remains, he may never be that guy again.