Dwyane Wade has produced a performance for the ages in the playoffs. But the real test starts in the conference finals. Mitchell Layton/NBAE via Getty Images
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The infamous label was brought out of the closet last week. Dusted off by the experts who claim to know these things and confirmed by the fans salivating to see it, "The Next" tag was placed on the 23-year-old shoulders of Dwyane Wade after he led the Heat to four-game sweeps of the Nets and Wizards during the first two rounds of the NBA playoffs.

Wade joined an exclusive class of Hall of Famers during the first round of this year's playoffs, averaging 26.3 points, 8.8 assists and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 50 percent from the field. Only six other players -- Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan -- have posted such numbers in a playoff series. Wade then followed that with an even better performance in the second round by averaging 31 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds while shooting 53.7 percent.

Leading the Heat to a sweep of the Wizards with Shaquile O'Neal sitting out Games 3 and 4 with a right thigh injury has made Wade's performance that much more impressive in the eyes of experts across the country, filling the airwaves, cyberspace and papers with the consensus that Wade not only is a superstar, but is the NBA's next great player. Many have claimed that he is everything that Kobe Bryant couldn't be as Shaq's teammate and everything that LeBron James should aspire to be as a big-game player.

Before hurting myself squeezing into the standing room only section of the Wade bandwagon, let me just confirm one thing. The Heat have only played the eighth-seeded Nets and the fifth-seeded Wizards in the playoffs so far, right? Two teams that hovered around the .500 mark all season that wouldn't have made the playoffs if they played in the Western Conference?

Should it shock anybody that Wade cut through both of these average teams like a hibachi knife through Jell-O? During the regular season the Heat were 7-0 against Nets and Wizards, and in five of those meetings Wade was the leading scorer. In three games against the Nets, Wade averaged 20.3 points, 5.3 assists, and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 48.8 percent. In three games against the Wizards (not including a Dec. 13 game he missed the majority of due to an ankle injury) Wade averaged 29.3 points, 10 assists, and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 58 percent.

Did Wade pick up his game during the playoffs? No doubt. Does his performance in the postseason carry more weight than in the regular season? Of course. But one would think Wade was taking down the Detroit Pistons the way some observers are raving about him now. Wade's 42-point performance to complete the sweep of the Wizards last week is even being described by some as Wade's signature game. You know, the one in which people begin referring to him by a single name much like Magic, Michael and Larry, and stop considering him a second banana.