Dwyane Wade scores 20 in 1st half but Heat still trail

Dwyane Wade is anything but washed up at age 32, but it's been a while since he completely controlled an entire game on his own, without some major help from teammate LeBron James.

Well, Wade threw things back to 2010 in the first half on Wednesday night, dropping 20 points on the Brooklyn Nets in just 15 minutes. Even still, Brooklyn managed to take a seven-point lead into halftime of a crucial Game 5, an elimination game for the visiting Nets, so Wade will need to continue his hot start in the second half.

Wade shot 7-of-12 from the floor and 6-6 from the line, adding a rebound and an assist to help keep the offense afloat as the team shot a putrid 1-of-16 from long range. His 40-point pace, if he kept it up, would be his largest single-game output in the regular season or playoffs since a 41-point game against Indiana on May 24, 2012. His career-high in points is 55, and his playoff career-high is 46, which was a Heat franchise record until James broke it in Game 4 with 49.

He came into Wednesday averaging 16.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists in eight playoff games this year after averaging 19, 4.5 and 4.7, respectively, in the regular season. 

He may not quite be the Finals MVP-winning version of himself any longer, but he can still score with the best of them, and has reminded Brooklyn as much so far.