Occasionally overlooked Wade surprises again

Do you remember Maciej Lampe?

Fans of international basketball and only the hardest of hardcore NBA followers may remember him, but when some experts were putting together their mock drafts for the 2003 NBA Draft, they had the Miami Heat selecting the 6-foot-11 Polish forward with the No. 5 overall selection and Dwyane Wade landing in his hometown of Chicago with the No. 7 pick.

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This example isn't meant to denigrate Lampe, who has carved out a nice career with Khimki BC in Moscow in the Russian Super League, but it's more of an example of where Wade once stood in the eyes of the experts: two behind Lampe in mock drafts and five picks behind Darko Milicic in the actual draft.

Could you imagine the Heat with Lampe? Could you imagine the Heat without Wade?

Actually, you don't need imagine the Heat without Wade. Everyone saw what happened to Miami without Wade last season when their All-Star missed 31 games with shoulder and knee injuries: 15-67.

This season you can see the difference Wade makes: 35-29, fifth in the East and a 1 1/2 games behind division rival Atlanta for the fourth seed (and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs).

But then again, Wade has a history of surprising people because of that chip on his shoulder. He wasn't heavily recruited out of high school, but by 2003 had led Marquette to the Final Four. With Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton and Antoine Walker in tow, Wade carried the Heat to their first NBA title in 2006.

And now, Wade has surprised us all again with his career resurrection. As Jackie MacMullen reported in her well-written profile of the Heat star, Wade diligently worked with Tim Grover (Michael Jordan's old trainer) to get into shape each offseason.

The amazing thing is Wade is getting it done on both ends of the floor. He has played in all 64 of Miami's games this season and leads the league in scoring at 29.7 points per game. Defensively, he's second in the league in steals with his 2.25 spg average.

He is as valuable as any player in the league right now. But is he the most valuable?

We still have five weeks to find out.

E-mail us your thoughts at RacetotheMVP@gmail.com.

Line of the Week: Dwyane Wade, March 9: 48 points, 12 assists, six boards, four steals and three blocks vs. Chicago in a 130-127 double OT win.

You saw it. You saw how it ended. A game for the ages.

Rise of the week: Deron Williams (four spots to No. 6)
Drop of the week: Chauncey Billups (two spots to No. 9)

RACE TO THE MVP :: TALE OF THE TAPE 28.3 PPG 29.7 7.5 RPG 5.5 7.2 APG 7.7 1.7 SPG 2.3 1.2 BPG 1.4 .486 FG% .495 .771 FT% .766

LeBron James Cleveland Cavaliers :: Team Record: 51-13 Last Week's Rank - 1 NBA.com's Dave McMenamin was a part of the media scrum in Los Angeles before James put up 32 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in the Cavs' 87-83 escape on Wednesday against the Clippers. Here's what LeBron, who has registered three consecutive triple-doubles after the stumble in Boston last Friday, had to say about the MVP race: Who would you vote for MVP? LeBron: "I don't know. There's a lot of guys. It all depends on how you look at the MVP race. Like I said, if you sort it by teams' wins and the individual that's playing the game in statistics, or do you look at it as, 'If you take this guy off this team, which team will struggle the most?' So, I don't know. Myself and Kobe and D-Wade ... Dwight Howard is having a great year. Chris Paul is having another great year. There's a lot of great players in this league." If you had one vote? LeBron: "If I had one vote?" And could vote for yourself... LeBron: "And could vote for myself? I don't know who I would vote for." The media votes for MVP, what do you think about that? LeBron: "What do I think about it?" Be nice, we vote... LeBron: "I love you guys."

Dwyane Wade Miami Heat :: Team Record: 35-29 Last Week's Rank - 3 Last week I said I didn't have the guts to put Wade No. 2 ahead of Kobe Bryant. Well, Wade made it easy with his play. His 48-point game with the 3-pointer to tie the game and send it to the first overtime and then the steal and game-winning runner to lift the Heat to a 130-127 win was one for the ages. Here's what Wade's good friend James thought of the game: "Unbelievable. I sent him an e-mail after the game. Basically, he was playing games with himself. He won the game, then lost the game. Then won the game, then lost it again and then he won it again. He tied the game up at the end of regulation to send it to overtime. Then he missed four free throws in a row for them to send it into double overtime. "And right before double overtime, he had a wide-open layup, a reverse layup that he never misses and that he would have made against us. If that was against the Cavs, he would have made that against us. He missed, that sent it to double overtime and then he won it. "He planned it, he planned it though. 'I?m going to make sure that it's a tied game and Chicago has the ball and I?m going to steal it and shoot a running three.'" Wade is getting to that point where you almost believe that.

LeBron's Triple-Double Nips Clips The Cavs needed all of LeBron's heroics (and his triple-double, too) to overcome a 19-point deficit to the Clippers. Wade's Big Night Watch highlights from Dwyane Wade's epic triple-double against the Chicago Bulls, capped off by his game-winning 3-pointer.

3. Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers | Team Record: 52-13 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 28.0 5.4 4.9 1.3 0.5 .474 .868 Last Week's Rank - 2 It's tough to move guys down when they've played well. And Kobe and the Lakers have played well this week, going 3-1 including wins in Houston and San Antonio after their loss to the Trail Blazers in Portland, where the Lakers have lost seven in a row. Bryant didn't speak to reporters after that game and the silence has helped as he scored a combined 60 points in those two Texas towns. The Lakers have the next three at home before heading out on a seven-game road trip.

4. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic | Team Record: 47-17 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 20.9 14.0 1.1 1.0 2.9 .571 .611 Last Week's Rank - 4 A very nice week for the big fella, including -- get this -- .810 from the free throw line. Yep, Dwight went 30-for-37 this week at the stripe, which far outpaces his .611 mark for the season. Being able to make his free throws makes Howard all that more valuable to the Magic, especially down the stretch of tight games. Next project for Howard and the Magic -- figuring out the puzzle that is the Pistons, who have beaten the Magic 19 times in the last 24 regular season games. Yipes.

5. Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets | Team Record: 40-23 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 21.5 5.4 11.1 2.8 0.2 .498 .856 Last Week's Rank - 5 With the exception of his assists, which are down by a half-assist per game, Paul is having -- by every statistical measure -- his finest season. So, why isn't he higher on the list? Perception, mostly. Last year, the Hornets shocked a lot of people and Paul's brilliance was the reason. This season, Paul's been brilliant (he's tied with LeBron for most triple-doubles with six), but the Hornets haven't reached last season's heights. Yet.

6. Deron Williams, Utah Jazz | Team Record: 41-24 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 18.7 2.8 10.5 1.1 0.3 .469 .823 Last Week's Rank -- 10 What? Williams all the way up to No. 6, and even after a loss in Atlanta? What can I say, I'm a contrarian. Actually, bumping Williams up this high isn't that much of stretch, especially after the stretch the Jazz have had recently where they had won 12 straight games. Williams, even when he doesn't score, makes his presence felt as he did with 12 assists against Indy on Tuesday.

7. Brandon Roy, Portland Trail Blazers | Team Record: 40-24 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 22.9 4.7 5.1 1.1 0.3 .483 .822 Last Week's Rank - 8 Roy has 20-plus points in his last six games and the Trail Blazers are 4-2 in those games. The 27-5-6 at home in a win against the Lakers wasn't bad either. Yet, as I said last week, the young Trail Blazers need to learn to handle the ups-and-downs of a season. Two nights after the Lakers win, Portland lost to Dallas for the 18th time in 20 games.

8. Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs | Team Record: 43-21 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 20.1 10.6 3.7 0.5 1.8 .510 .696 Last Week's Rank - 6 Very Duncan-like week: consistent, excellent. Yet, one of the better moments of the week came when Duncan, who only played 18 minutes in the Spurs' rout of the Wizards in D.C., tried to check back into the game but Gregg Popovich wouldn't let him. "At this time of year, if you can get a game like that every once in a while where the starters can rest, it?s usually a good thing," Popovich said.

9. Chauncey Billups, Denver Nuggets | Team Record: 41-25 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 18.7 2.8 6.1 1.3 0.2 .419 .906 Last Week's Rank - 7 The Nuggets are sliding down the standings and Billups is sliding down the rankings. And the pressure is on, too. Look at Billups' minutes in his last three games: 43:36, 43:52 and 41:26. That's a lot for the 33-year-old point guard. After leading the Northwest Division for most of the season, the Nuggets are behind the Jazz and Trail Blazers, albeit only by one-half game.

10. Yao Ming, Houston Rockets | Team Record: 42-24 PPG RPG APG SPG BPG FG% FT% 19.7 9.6 1.8 0.4 1.9 .546 .868 Last Week's Rank - 9 Yao and the Rockets had a 3-1 week, but that one loss came against the Lakers when Ron Artest tried to make the game personal between him and Kobe Bryant, turning the Rockets' All-Star center into a bystander. He was 7-for-9. Feed the big fella. Keep him happy. Win.

Outside Looking In (OLI)

11. Pau Gasol
12. Paul Pierce
13. Dirk Nowitzki
14. Kevin Garnett
15. Devin Harris
16. Ray Allen
17. Tony Parker
18. Mo Williams
19. Carmelo Anthony
20. Joe Johnson