12 years ago, during the 2011 NBA Finals, despite being the overwhelming favorites in the series, LeBron James and the Miami Heat embarrassingly fell to Dirk Nowitzki‘s Dallas Mavericks. This was capped off by their incredible collapse in Game 2, as the Mavs came back from a whopping 15-point deficit with just six minutes remaining in the game. Having been a part of Dallas’ squad then, Tyson Chandler recently appeared on the ‘All the Smoke‘ podcast to talk about that Finals game. Pointing to Dwyane Wade’s mockery, the former Mavericks star credited him for spurring on their incredible fight-back.
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‘The Heatles’, as they were known, were one of the superteams to ever form in the NBA. Considering the amount of talent on that side, likes of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade, many may have expected the team to win back-to-back championships for the next half-decade. Perhaps even the players themselves believed it. However, their hubris turned out to be their downfall in the 2011 NBA Finals, as they fell to the Mavericks in just 6 games. Admittedly, after the side lost Game Two, the team never quite looked like they had what it takes to win.
Former DPOY, Tyson Chandler explains how Dwyane Wade was the cause of the Heat’s downfall in Game two
Tyson Chandler was a key player for the Dallas Mavericks, despite winning Defensive Player of the Year after his time there, in 2012. Speaking at the 2011 NBA Finals, Chandler talked about being down in Game Two, before Dwyane Wade’s mockery ‘woke them up’. Here is what he said during his time on All the Smoke.
“They was whooping us (in) the second game. And we were still almost shell-shocked. What turned the series was, when D-Wade (Dwyane Wade) hit the three by our bench and held it (his hand) up, and then walked by our whole bench. Like super disrespectful. After that, it was like ‘alright wake up!’. That woke us up. And we was in the huddle, and it shifted for us, at that point. And then we got back to us, and then it started rolling them off.
As mentioned earlier, with 6 minutes to go in the game, this moment spurred an incredible 15-point comeback. To this day, it is widely regarded as one of the greatest single-game comebacks in NBA Finals history. Further, many believe that this was the game that turned the series in the Mavericks’ favor, as they went on to beat them in six games.
However, this wasn’t the only time the ‘Heatles’ were disrespectful against Dirk Nowitzki and his squad. In fact, they even mocked him openly on one occasion.
Nowitzki talks about James and Wade’s disrespect
After winning Game 4 of the same series, Dirk Nowitzki admitted that he had been dealing with an illness during the game. Many gave him his props, applauding his drive to win. However, the Heat players felt differently on the topic, even coughing in front of cameras to mock the German.
Dirk Nowitzki would later speak on the incident, saying the following, as per Sports Illustrated.
“Honestly, I just felt like it was a little disrespectful… but it didn’t add to my motivation if that makes sense.”
While Dirk did say it did not add to his motivation, it is hard to believe that it didn’t light a fire under his teammates.
