The Miami Heat’s Insults Motivated The Dallas Mavericks’ To Win The 2011 NBA Championship
In 2011, the Dallas Mavericks accomplished what most didn’t think was possible. They made it through a tough Western Conference and won an NBA championship against the Miami Heat’s “Big Three”.
After losing Game 1 in the Finals, the Mavericks realized they were in a troubling situation when trailing by double-digits in the fourth quarter. But then they made a 15-point comeback, one of the largest in Finals history.
In a recent episode of Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes’ podcast All The Smoke, former player Tyson Chandler said Dwyane Wade’s disrespect ignited the rally.
“They [the Heat] was whooping us the second game and we were still almost shell shocked,” Chandler said. “What turned the series was when D Wade hit the three by our bench and held it up and then like walked by our whole bench like super disrespectful. But after that, it was like ‘All right, wake up.’ Like that woke us up. And we were literally in the huddle and it, like, shifted for us at that point. And then we got back to us and then it started rolling along.”
Wade’s three-pointer gave the Heat a 88-73 lead and hopes of taking a 2-0 series lead. But instead, the Mavericks went on a 22-5 run and won. After losing Game 2, the Heat won Game 3 but lost the next three and ultimately the series.
This wasn’t the only jab taken in the series. In the Mavericks’ Game 4 victory, Dirk Nowitzki reportedly played with a fever. Several days later, a video went viral of LeBron James and Wade mocking him with fake coughs.
Although Nowitzki and Wade recently settled their differences, the insults were personal enough to motivate the Mavericks to win.
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Cory Nelson is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson. You can also check out his personal blog HERE.
