Dwyane Wade Admits He Made a Big Mistake in the 2011 NBA Finals

The 2011 NBA Finals will go down as one of the more entertaining NBA Finals of recent memory. It was truly a story of heroes vs villains, and the heroes shocked the world by coming out on top. When LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh all got together in Miami, people almost assumed they would be NBA champions. Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks, however, had different plans. 

During Game 4 of the series, Dirk was dealing with a sickness that almost kept him out of the game. Before Game 5, a video was released of Wade and LeBron mocking Dirk for being sick. 

Wade recently discussed mocking Dirk and how it didn’t help the Heat’s chances at beating him. 

“That moment with Dirk was childish. It was a childish moment that was caught on tape. It was a moment of us saying to the cameras ‘stop giving them excuses.’ It was like oh it’s another excuse, he’s now sick? Everyone is dealing with something but it because some bulletin board info for the team and for Dirk. You don’t want to give a team nothing extra. You’re already in the finals and already a very good team, and we did. Just added a little more juice to the series”

That extra motivation certainly helped the Mavericks. They came out in Games 5 and 6 of the series with something to prove, especially Dirk. Dirk put on a legendary Finals performance to squash the Heat’s dreams, and while his sickness in the middle of the series won’t always be remembered, Wade and LeBron’s reaction will be considered a grave mistake.