PHILADELPHIA -- Dwyane Wade sat alone, wrapping his 36-year-old knees in ice long after the Miami Heat practiced Sunday afternoon at Temple University. The media throng that covers the Heat seemed more focused on Hassan Whiteside's virtual no-show in the first game of this playoff series against the 76ers and the adjustments the team would have to make for this series to be competitive.

Wade's paltry 19 minutes in Game 1 didn't even register as a significant storyline at this stage in his career. That's about what he had been playing since rejoining the Heat after a midseason trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Anything more he could give them than that was seen as a bonus, not something the Heat could count on.

Fellow Heat lifers Alonzo Mourning and Juwan Howard each came over to him as he worked on his knees and stopped for a conversation. Wade will be joining them as Heat emeriti soon enough. Always welcome around the team, always a part of the family ... once their playing careers were over.

I asked him why he was wrapping his own knees in ice. The Heat have plenty of trainers for tasks like that. Wade laughed and said, "I like doing this myself."

After all, how many more times would he wrap those knees in ice after a practice? No, if these are indeed the last days of his Basketball Hall of Fame career, Wade is determined to do everything exactly the way it should be done.

Which is how he approached Monday's game against the Sixers. The Heat had brought him back for games just like this: down in a playoff series, needing a win at all costs and desperate for the type of calming, veteran leadership the three-time NBA champion can provide.

Wade delivered a throwback 28-point performance in 26 minutes off the bench to propel the Heat to a 113-103 win and snap the Sixers' 17-game win streak.

"A lot of people think that if you do decide to go out it's because you weren't supposed to be able to play no more. It's not always supposed to be that," Wade told ESPN after the game.

Wade said he will take time after the season to decide whether to retire or return to the Heat for one more season.

"Just taking time to think, that's all I'm doing," Wade said. "Taking time to think and looking at every angle and what's the best situation for me to be in. That's all. It's a lot of different, it's a lot of different things that come into play."

Dwyane Wade outscored Philadelphia's bench 28-24 in Miami's Game 2 road win to tie the series at 1-1. David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images

If he returns for another season, he said it will only be as a member of the Heat.

"Someone like Vince [Carter] can go anywhere and play. Every year, he can go to do a different location," Wade said. "I can't hop to here and there. So it makes it a little tougher."

Wade already did that, leaving the Heat two summers ago to sign with the Bulls. He signed with Cleveland this past fall after working out a buyout of his contract in Chicago.

"I had my little college tour," Wade joked. "It's like a kid whose parents don't want them to go out of state, but they go out anyway and they come back home.

"I feel like my experience was what I needed. I feel like it made me appreciate, it made the city of Miami appreciate everything."

The city and the team definitely appreciated what Wade did Monday night.