728huey said:

SCNDLS said:

Nowitzki leads Mavs to brink of title

DALLAS – In the aftermath of their loss to the Miami Heat in the 2006 NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks couldn’t stop making excuses. The Heat hadn’t so much won the title, Dallas decided, as it had been given to them, courtesy of poor officiating or the Mavs fumbling away the critical third game.

Eventually the whining so annoyed Dwyane Wade(notes), the MVP of that series, that he went right back at Dallas, right back at Dirk Nowitzki’s(notes) version of events, and blasted it all.

“Dirk says they gave us the championship last year, but he’s the reason they lost,” Wade told Miami reporters in 2007. It’s “because he wasn’t the leader that he’s supposed to be in the closing moments.

With his supporting cast now contributing in the clutch, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs sit one win away from their first NBA title.
(NBAE/Getty Images)

“At the end of the day, you’re remembered for what you did at the end.”

Nowitzki has said nothing during this series about those words, about that charge against him half a decade ago.

Whatever his failure then has been corrected. Dallas has taken control of these Finals, taken mighty Miami and its all-star crew to the brink, taken the veneer of inevitability and invincibility right off LeBron James(notes) and Co. because Nowitzki has turned into a leader for the ages.

Dallas beat Miami 112-103 here Thursday and the Mavericks are now up 3-2 heading into Sunday’s Game 6 back in Florida. And it wasn’t just Nowitzki’s game-high 29 points that made it so.

It was how he’s helped build up a supporting crew of castoffs and role players, how he’s demanded excellence from starters and subs alike, how he’s found the perfect balance of knowing when to take command of a game and when to defer to a better option.

The Heat are a collection of talent still searching for their roles, still seeking consistency and accountability and urgency. It’s LeBron trying to sunshine another loss with “we played good enough to win.” Dallas has turned into this machine that keeps coming and coming and coming, undeterred by talent, unwilling to compromise.

“Persistence is our game,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said.

When six straight points gave the Heat a 96-95 lead with just 5:16 remaining, when America Airlines Center had gone from deafening to doubting, when it all seemed to be slipping away, there was the 7-foot German in the huddle during a timeout, pleading for exactly that persistence.

“Just stick with it,” he shouted. “Just stick with it.”

This was the series on the line. The Mavs had hit a million shots and were losing anyway. They were in the process of holding LeBron to another quiet fourth quarter (just two points) and were about to blow it still. So after Nowitzki was done talking – and after Wade had increased Miami’s lead with a 3-pointer – Nowitzki demanded the ball, got to the lane, got fouled and, of course, knocked down his free throws.

“Kind of settle everyone down,” he said. “I thought it was big of us not to shoot a bad jumper and they go down in transition again.”

He then stepped back and let his guys rise up. It was Jason Terry(notes), who Nowitzki had called out earlier in this series, draining two back-breaking 3-pointers. It was Shawn Marion(notes), previously benched in crunch time, producing a key steal. It was blue-collar Tyson Chandler(notes) delivering a huge block. It was Jason Kidd(notes) burying a 24-footer.

Jason Terry's late 3-pointer all but ended any chance of a Miami Heat comeback Thursday.
(NBAE/Getty Images)

After his free throws, Nowitzki would never need to score again. Dallas would deliver a 17-4 knockout run, and the most clutch performer in these playoffs – hero of big shot after big shot – didn’t need to do all the scoring.

Nowitzki has the Mavericks exactly where he wants them – believing so fully in themselves that they’ve found a way to close out games that all of Miami’s heavy hitters can’t.

And yes, it’s his team. It’s unequivocally his Mavericks. There isn’t a debate here; no star-by-committee system. He’s taken a hold of this group the way he grabs the news conference microphone. Owner Mark Cuban has stopped talking to the media, seemingly lifting a mountain of pressure off his troops. Carlisle is comfortable deflecting praise onto the players and spends half his time crediting Dirk effusively.

After the game, Terry talked about one of his late, contested threes, and acknowledged he was so confident he probably would’ve taken it even if the shot clock wasn’t running down.

“Dirk don’t want to hear that,” Terry said.Not Carlisle, the coach. Dirk, the leader.

This has been an impossibly tight series, every game coming down to the final minute, if not the final shot. Across the way the Heat are still fumbling with how to finish, wondering who should take the shot, who should step up on defense. They stand around and look at each other. Some won’t shoot. Some shoot too much. Some won’t defend. Some chase themselves out of position.

Until these Finals, the Heat were able to overwhelm opponents in the final minutes. They just swallowed up the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls. Now they’ve met an opponent with even more will, with an even greater killer instinct.

It was supposed to be the Heat that could count on a committee at the end. It was supposed to be this purposefully assembled triumvirate that would cause the defensive chaos. Would Wade take the final shot? Would LeBron? Would they drop down to Chris Bosh(notes)? Was there any way to cover them all?

Instead it was Miami coach Erik Spoelstra who looked out of ideas, looked resigned to the fact that Dallas just won’t stop coming for the crown.

“It is not easy against this team,” he said.

When everyone thought it would be Nowitzki who would try to win it, he flipped the script and here came Terry, Marion and Kidd. Here, earlier in the game, came J.J. Berea, this 5-foot-9 blur seemingly out of a pick-up game at the Y, torturing the Heat with 17 gut-punch points.

“Nowitzki requires at least the attention of 1½ and often two guys,” Spoelstra said. “…A lot of actions involve Nowitzki.”

It all comes through Dirk now, here in this tightest of Finals, here in this endless parade of pressurized moments. Torn tendon. High fever. Double teams. Nothing is stopping him. Nothing is keeping him from doing exactly what Dwyane Wade roasted him about five years ago.

“At the end of the day,” Wade said back then, “you’re remembered for what you did at the end.”

It’s 3-2 Dallas now. It’s one game from everything for these Mavericks. It’s one win from answering that long-ago criticism for Dirk Nowitzki.

[Edited 6/10/11 11:34am]

Sorry to put a damper on all you Mavs fans (I want the Mavs to win this as much as you do ), but if they are going to win the NBA title, they have to close it out on Sunday; otherwise it's very unlikely they will win it all. Since going to a 2-3-2 format, no team who was up 3 games to 2 and lost game 6 on the road has ever won an NBA title. In fact, the Celtics led 3-2 going into LA last season and got spanked by the Lakers in game 6. They played a spirited game 7 but still came up short as the Lakers won their fifth and final NBA title with Phil Jackson as coach.

Kendric Perkins did get injured in game 6 though ...

Heat in 7.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

728huey said:

Sorry to put a damper on all you Mavs fans (I want the Mavs to win this as much as you do ), but if they are going to win the NBA title, they have to close it out on Sunday; otherwise it's very unlikely they will win it all. Since going to a 2-3-2 format, no team who was up 3 games to 2 and lost game 6 on the road has ever won an NBA title. In fact, the Celtics led 3-2 going into LA last season and got spanked by the Lakers in game 6. They played a spirited game 7 but still came up short as the Lakers won their fifth and final NBA title with Phil Jackson as coach.

Kendric Perkins did get injured in game 6 though ...

Not to mention these are two completely different teams. I'll say it again: the Mavs woulda won the series in 5 were it not for that missed backcourt violation. The Heat haven't done shit in FOUR straight games so it's beyond me why people keep saying, "Just wait they're gonna turn it on in the next one, you'll see!" Why the delay?

Heat will turn it on in the next one. Everybody will see.

Layzie said:

Heat will turn it on in the next one. Everybody will see.

babynoz said:

Nowitzki says Wade, James ‘childish … ignorant’

MIAMI (AP)—Dirk Nowitzki(notes) said Saturday that Dwyane Wade(notes) and LeBron James(notes) were “a little childish, a little ignorant” in a video that appears to show them mocking the Mavericks star’s recent illness.

Wade said he really did cough and turned it into a generic joke because cameras were rolling. He and James blamed others for trying to make a big deal out of it.

MIAMI, FL - JUNE 11: Dirk Now…
Getty Images - Jun 11, 2:41 pm EDT

Dallas Mavericks ' Dirk No…
AP - Jun 11, 2:13 pm EDT

• 1 of 2
• NBA Gallery

The video taken by the CBS affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth shows Wade walking alongside James following a shootaround the morning of Game 5 of the NBA finals. Wade coughs, then says, “Did you hear me cough? Think I’m sick.”

Nowitzki was coughing and sniffling throughout Game 4 because of a sinus infection that also left him with a 101-degree fever. He played anyway and led Dallas to a victory over the Miami Heat that evened the series at two games each. The Mavs also won Game 5, sending them into Game 6 on Sunday night with a chance to be crowned champions.

The video of Wade’s cough spread across the Internet on Friday, when both teams were traveling. So it became a popular topic at news conferences Saturday.

“First of all, it wasn’t fake coughing,” Wade said. “I actually did cough. And with the cameras being right there, we made a joke out of it because we knew you guys were going to blow it up. You did exactly what we knew. We never said Dirk’s name. I think he’s not the only one in the world who can get sick or have a cough. We just had fun with the cameras being right in our face about the blowup of the incident, and it held to be true. You blew it up.”

Said James: “If you guys want to feed into everything that not only myself or D-Wade or the Miami Heat do, I think that’s a non-issue. There’s bigger issues in this series than that.”

The video clip runs 26 seconds. After Wade coughs, he and James laugh and tug their collars over their nose and mouth, as Nowitzki did during his interview following Game 4.

Nowitzki clearly didn’t see anything humorous about it. He considered them implying he may not have been sick.

“I’ve been in this league for 13 years. I’ve never faked an injury or an illness before,” Nowitzki said. “But (the video) happened. It’s over to me. It’s not going to add anything extra to me. This is the NBA finals. If you need an extra motivation, you have a problem.”

Translation: Fuck dem hoes . . .

Damn Wade and James are some DUMMIES!

SCNDLS said:

Nowitzki says Wade, James ‘childish … ignorant’

MIAMI (AP)—Dirk Nowitzki(notes) said Saturday that Dwyane Wade(notes) and LeBron James(notes) were “a little childish, a little ignorant” in a video that appears to show them mocking the Mavericks star’s recent illness.

Wade said he really did cough and turned it into a generic joke because cameras were rolling. He and James blamed others for trying to make a big deal out of it.

MIAMI, FL - JUNE 11: Dirk Now…
Getty Images - Jun 11, 2:41 pm EDT

Dallas Mavericks ' Dirk No…
AP - Jun 11, 2:13 pm EDT

• 1 of 2
• NBA Gallery

The video taken by the CBS affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth shows Wade walking alongside James following a shootaround the morning of Game 5 of the NBA finals. Wade coughs, then says, “Did you hear me cough? Think I’m sick.”

Nowitzki was coughing and sniffling throughout Game 4 because of a sinus infection that also left him with a 101-degree fever. He played anyway and led Dallas to a victory over the Miami Heat that evened the series at two games each. The Mavs also won Game 5, sending them into Game 6 on Sunday night with a chance to be crowned champions.

The video of Wade’s cough spread across the Internet on Friday, when both teams were traveling. So it became a popular topic at news conferences Saturday.

“First of all, it wasn’t fake coughing,” Wade said. “I actually did cough. And with the cameras being right there, we made a joke out of it because we knew you guys were going to blow it up. You did exactly what we knew. We never said Dirk’s name. I think he’s not the only one in the world who can get sick or have a cough. We just had fun with the cameras being right in our face about the blowup of the incident, and it held to be true. You blew it up.”

Said James: “If you guys want to feed into everything that not only myself or D-Wade or the Miami Heat do, I think that’s a non-issue. There’s bigger issues in this series than that.”

The video clip runs 26 seconds. After Wade coughs, he and James laugh and tug their collars over their nose and mouth, as Nowitzki did during his interview following Game 4.

Nowitzki clearly didn’t see anything humorous about it. He considered them implying he may not have been sick.

“I’ve been in this league for 13 years. I’ve never faked an injury or an illness before,” Nowitzki said. “But (the video) happened. It’s over to me. It’s not going to add anything extra to me. This is the NBA finals. If you need an extra motivation, you have a problem.”

Translation: Fuck dem hoes . . .

Perfect example of oversensationalism the media especially the horde that have

this built in anger versus Lebron and the Heat. How many times have we seen Phil Jackson

do this same shit against an opposing player or team when they have injuries, illness, etc. and

come right out in the media and accuse the opposition of playing it up too much to get in the

opposition's head and the media label it pure genius. All of this hate because James chose to

go to Miami and they had a big celebration in South Beach shortly there after and everybody

felt they were proclaiming themselves pre season champs. No shit. We've never seen this before?

Hell the Baltimore Ravens proclaim themselves Super Bowl champs every year before we even

see a down of football. It's just their persona. Now the Jets are proclaiming themselves Super

Bowl champs every season. Every sport needs their villain and i understand it but the extra

hate for Lebron just doesn't make any sense especially when the guy the plays to win and

has become the ultimate team player and for the most part handles everything with class on

and off the court.

[Edited 6/12/11 7:09am]

Dirk gonna kill these boys tonight.

We shall see.

phunkdaddy said:

We shall see.

LeBron is gonna nut up once again.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

phunkdaddy said:

We shall see.

LeBron is gonna nut up once again.

Yeah in Shawn Marion's grill during one of his

gangsta ass dunks.

phunkdaddy said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

LeBron is gonna nut up once again.

Yeah in Shawn Marion's grill during one of his

gangsta ass dunks.

The King with 8 points, lol.

phunkdaddy said:

SCNDLS said:

Nowitzki says Wade, James ‘childish … ignorant’

MIAMI (AP)—Dirk Nowitzki(notes) said Saturday that Dwyane Wade(notes) and LeBron James(notes) were “a little childish, a little ignorant” in a video that appears to show them mocking the Mavericks star’s recent illness.

Wade said he really did cough and turned it into a generic joke because cameras were rolling. He and James blamed others for trying to make a big deal out of it.

MIAMI, FL - JUNE 11: Dirk Now…
Getty Images - Jun 11, 2:41 pm EDT

Dallas Mavericks ' Dirk No…
AP - Jun 11, 2:13 pm EDT

• 1 of 2
• NBA Gallery

The video taken by the CBS affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth shows Wade walking alongside James following a shootaround the morning of Game 5 of the NBA finals. Wade coughs, then says, “Did you hear me cough? Think I’m sick.”

Nowitzki was coughing and sniffling throughout Game 4 because of a sinus infection that also left him with a 101-degree fever. He played anyway and led Dallas to a victory over the Miami Heat that evened the series at two games each. The Mavs also won Game 5, sending them into Game 6 on Sunday night with a chance to be crowned champions.

The video of Wade’s cough spread across the Internet on Friday, when both teams were traveling. So it became a popular topic at news conferences Saturday.

“First of all, it wasn’t fake coughing,” Wade said. “I actually did cough. And with the cameras being right there, we made a joke out of it because we knew you guys were going to blow it up. You did exactly what we knew. We never said Dirk’s name. I think he’s not the only one in the world who can get sick or have a cough. We just had fun with the cameras being right in our face about the blowup of the incident, and it held to be true. You blew it up.”

Said James: “If you guys want to feed into everything that not only myself or D-Wade or the Miami Heat do, I think that’s a non-issue. There’s bigger issues in this series than that.”

The video clip runs 26 seconds. After Wade coughs, he and James laugh and tug their collars over their nose and mouth, as Nowitzki did during his interview following Game 4.

Nowitzki clearly didn’t see anything humorous about it. He considered them implying he may not have been sick.

“I’ve been in this league for 13 years. I’ve never faked an injury or an illness before,” Nowitzki said. “But (the video) happened. It’s over to me. It’s not going to add anything extra to me. This is the NBA finals. If you need an extra motivation, you have a problem.”

Translation: Fuck dem hoes . . .

Perfect example of oversensationalism the media especially the horde that have

this built in anger versus Lebron and the Heat. How many times have we seen Phil Jackson

do this same shit against an opposing player or team when they have injuries, illness, etc. and

come right out in the media and accuse the opposition of playing it up too much to get in the

opposition's head and the media label it pure genius. All of this hate because James chose to

go to Miami and they had a big celebration in South Beach shortly there after and everybody

felt they were proclaiming themselves pre season champs. No shit. We've never seen this before?

Hell the Baltimore Ravens proclaim themselves Super Bowl champs every year before we even

see a down of football. It's just their persona. Now the Jets are proclaiming themselves Super

Bowl champs every season. Every sport needs their villain and i understand it but the extra

hate for Lebron just doesn't make any sense especially when the guy the plays to win and

has become the ultimate team player and for the most part handles everything with class on

and off the court.

[Edited 6/12/11 7:09am]

I agree that the media oversensationalizes things BUT at some point a mature, focused player realiazes that and stops giving them ammunition, ceases with the extra antics and let's his game do all the talking. That's my problem with the Heat right now. They know they're under the microscope and keep doing shit to give people fodder to criticize. They need to shut the hell up, stop twittering, and do what they were brought together to do. But it's too little too late if the Mavs win tonight.

[Edited 6/12/11 7:55am]

Nowitzki dismisses insult eve of Game 6

MIAMI – Long in beard, short on sleep, this is where the NBA Finals had delivered Dirk Nowitzki(notes): Eve of Game 6, one victory from his first championship, slumped into a chair, all elbows and angles jutting out, and, yes, he’d seen the cough-session video of Dw...Bron James making fun of him.

“I just thought it was a little childish, a little ignorant,” Nowitzki said. “I’ve been in this league for 13 years. I’ve never faked an injury or illness before.”

Nowitzki wasn’t simmering with anger. He sounded more put-off than anything, the dorm monitor who’d woken up to find two frat boys wheeling in a keg at 9 in the morning. Just another annoyance in a job filled with them.

Nowitzki will dismiss this slight just like he’s dismissed all others that came before it. He’s heard far worse in his career, and this is the advantage he carries into Sunday’s Game 6, the same advantage he has carried all series. No one in these Finals has endured more failure to get to this point, no one has weathered as much criticism and no one can match his hunger.

“Now or Never,” James tweeted before Game 5. He meant to inspire himself, but the ultimatum applies better to these Dallas Mavericks than it does James and his Miami Heat. Wade already has one championship. James will have several more years to get his. For Nowitzki, for Jason Kidd(notes), for many of these Mavericks, this could well be their final run at NBA glory.

“We’re one win away from my dream, what I’ve worked on for half my life,” Nowitzki said. “This is really all I’m worried about.”

This, too, is why so many people from every corner of the NBA are pulling for him now. Nowitzki has chased this championship the hard way, staying with the same team for all 13 seasons, suffering through the Finals collapse in ’06 and all those early exits that followed. He hasn’t delivered a title yet, but he’s won a level of respect from many of his rivals. At All-Star Weekend, Nowitzki and Tim Duncan(notes) looked like longtime friends sitting together, two members of the old guard watching the league transition to its next generation.

Nowitzki was representing the Mavericks alone in the All-Star Game, and that, too, was fitting. Since Steve Nash(notes) left Dallas, Nowitzki hasn’t played next to a true star still in the prime of his career. That didn’t matter, of course. Whenever the Mavericks lost, when they bowed out in the first round against the Golden State Warriors, when they did the same against the New Orleans Hornets and San Antonio Spurs, it was all on him. He was too soft. He couldn’t lead. He couldn’t withstand the pressure of the postseason.

“I got hammered the last 13 years, basically,” Nowitzki said. “So hopefully this year I can make the hammering go away for one year.”

Until recently, James had inspired much of his own criticism through only sheer arrogance. Nowitzki has listened to someone question his manhood nearly every season, including this one. After the Los Angeles Lakers routed the Mavericks in April, Chris Webber said Nowitzki should have been “fined” for not retaliating against the defending champions. Mark Cuban went on radio to blast Webber, and this only added to the perception of Nowitzki as the soft star. If Dirk was really so tough, then why did he need his owner to defend him? Why did he need to be coddled?

The same happened when Wade ripped Nowitzki’s leadership months after the ’06 Finals. Cuban fired back in his blog, and the Mavericks were once again cast as the whiny losers.

Cuban has kept his mouth shut through most of these playoffs, and the change has benefited Nowitzki as much as anyone. No longer is his greatness obscured by Cuban’s noise. Those same Lakers that Webber said Nowitzki couldn’t stand tough against? Nowitzki swept them in the second round.

He has continued to show his resilience throughout this postseason, and there’s a lesson for LeBron in that. You weather the failure and criticism and move to the next game, next season, next challenge. You don’t go to Larry King looking for sympathy. You change the narrative yourself. Work harder, play harder. Win.

“I just think sometimes when you don’t win, criticism comes with it,” Nowitzki said. “That’s just a part of the game if you’re the star or the face of the franchise. If you win, it’s great for you, and everybody looks at you. And if you lose, you’re going to get hammered.”

He likely will get hit again if he doesn’t finish these Finals, if he doesn’t deliver his first championship. Won’t it be just one more collapse in a career of collapses? Won’t it forever scar his legacy?

Nowitzki hasn’t spent much time worrying about his place in history. He stopped counting the insults and slights years ago. Wade and James can mock him, tease him, whatever. He’s still chasing his dream, still carrying the same edge he carried into these Finals. Thirteen years is a long time in this league, and Dirk Nowitzki is far more tired of failing than they’ll ever be.

SCNDLS said:

phunkdaddy said:

Perfect example of oversensationalism the media especially the horde that have

this built in anger versus Lebron and the Heat. How many times have we seen Phil Jackson

do this same shit against an opposing player or team when they have injuries, illness, etc. and

come right out in the media and accuse the opposition of playing it up too much to get in the

opposition's head and the media label it pure genius. All of this hate because James chose to

go to Miami and they had a big celebration in South Beach shortly there after and everybody

felt they were proclaiming themselves pre season champs. No shit. We've never seen this before?

Hell the Baltimore Ravens proclaim themselves Super Bowl champs every year before we even

see a down of football. It's just their persona. Now the Jets are proclaiming themselves Super

Bowl champs every season. Every sport needs their villain and i understand it but the extra

hate for Lebron just doesn't make any sense especially when the guy the plays to win and

has become the ultimate team player and for the most part handles everything with class on

and off the court.

[Edited 6/12/11 7:09am]

I agree that the media oversensationalizes things BUT at some point a mature, focused player realiazes that and stops giving them ammunition, ceases with the extra antics and let's his game do all the talking. That's my problem with the Heat right now. They know they're under the microscope and keep doing shit to give people fodder to criticize. They need to shut the hell up, stop twittering, and do what they were brought together to do. But it's too little too late if the Mavs win tonight.

[Edited 6/12/11 7:55am]

Exactly, Wade and Lebron aren't fresh face kids to the NBA, shut-up and put up.

Of course some of the criticism has been valid; the "ultimate team player" also had wilted under the spotlight when he's needed. Being a team player I thought also meant you rose to the occasion when your number is called, Lebron James has never done this, never.

TD3 said:

SCNDLS said:

I agree that the media oversensationalizes things BUT at some point a mature, focused player realiazes that and stops giving them ammunition, ceases with the extra antics and let's his game do all the talking. That's my problem with the Heat right now. They know they're under the microscope and keep doing shit to give people fodder to criticize. They need to shut the hell up, stop twittering, and do what they were brought together to do. But it's too little too late if the Mavs win tonight.

[Edited 6/12/11 7:55am]

Exactly, Wade and Lebron aren't fresh face kids to the NBA, shut-up and put up.

Of course some of the criticism has been valid; the "ultimate team player" also had wilted under the spotlight when he's needed. Being a team player I thought also meant you rose to the occasion when your number is called, Lebron James has never done this, never.

This is Lebron's second time in the finals. The first time he did it in Cleveland with Tito, Marlon, and Randy and now he happens to have Wade and Bosch. There is a long list of players

who have not gotten the job done in big game situations and still have gotten a pass. I'm a

76ers fan but i am so sick of Charles Barkley running his damn mouth about other players and

he hasn't won shit for Philly or anywhere else. He constantly criticizes other players who have

accomplished more than he has but his constant Lebron and Heat bashing makes no sense. He

used to do the same shit to Iverson when he first got in the league. I thought i'd never see the

day when i say i would take delight in seeing someone kick Barkley's tired ass.

phunkdaddy said:

TD3 said:

Exactly, Wade and Lebron aren't fresh face kids to the NBA, shut-up and put up.

Of course some of the criticism has been valid; the "ultimate team player" also had wilted under the spotlight when he's needed. Being a team player I thought also meant you rose to the occasion when your number is called, Lebron James has never done this, never.

This is Lebron's second time in the finals. The first time he did it in Cleveland with Tito, Marlon, and Randy and now he happens to have Wade and Bosch. There is a long list of players

who have not gotten the job done in big game situations and still have gotten a pass. I'm a

76ers fan but i am so sick of Charles Barkley running his damn mouth about other players and

he hasn't won shit for Philly or anywhere else. He constantly criticizes other players who have

accomplished more than he has but his constant Lebron and Heat bashing makes no sense. He

used to do the same shit to Iverson when he first got in the league. I thought i'd never see the

day when i say i would take delight in seeing someone kick Barkley's tired ass.

Barkley is definitely bitter.

I hope the Mavs pull through.

I'm sure they want it bad.

phunkdaddy said:

TD3 said:

Exactly, Wade and Lebron aren't fresh face kids to the NBA, shut-up and put up.

Of course some of the criticism has been valid; the "ultimate team player" also had wilted under the spotlight when he's needed. Being a team player I thought also meant you rose to the occasion when your number is called, Lebron James has never done this, never.

This is Lebron's second time in the finals. The first time he did it in Cleveland with Tito, Marlon, and Randy and now he happens to have Wade and Bosch. There is a long list of players

who have not gotten the job done in big game situations and still have gotten a pass. I'm a

76ers fan but i am so sick of Charles Barkley running his damn mouth about other players and

he hasn't won shit for Philly or anywhere else. He constantly criticizes other players who have

accomplished more than he has but his constant Lebron and Heat bashing makes no sense. He

used to do the same shit to Iverson when he first got in the league. I thought i'd never see the

day when i say i would take delight in seeing someone kick Barkley's tired ass.

Mr. Barkley hasn't been the only former player that's gottin' into James ass. You don't have to be a former player to see when the chips are down James hasn't shown up. Two NBA finals? Hell, he didn't show during the regular seasons when it counted. When he should've taken it to the hole, James pulled up and missed far more last minute jump shots than anyone would care to remember.

Phunkdaddy, he's been a shrinking violet, painful but true. Worse, he still tryin' to talk shit? Please. James or Wade can't have it both ways. It was them who started to count their championships before they worked to earn them. I don't have an issue with any screaming I'M THE MAN but when it's time to back up the trash talk and your number is called... than show up; at times the Heat appeared to think teams were going to roll over during the playoffs.

============================================================

[Edited 6/12/11 10:39am]

TD3 said:

phunkdaddy said:

This is Lebron's second time in the finals. The first time he did it in Cleveland with Tito, Marlon, and Randy and now he happens to have Wade and Bosch. There is a long list of players

who have not gotten the job done in big game situations and still have gotten a pass. I'm a

76ers fan but i am so sick of Charles Barkley running his damn mouth about other players and

he hasn't won shit for Philly or anywhere else. He constantly criticizes other players who have

accomplished more than he has but his constant Lebron and Heat bashing makes no sense. He

used to do the same shit to Iverson when he first got in the league. I thought i'd never see the

day when i say i would take delight in seeing someone kick Barkley's tired ass.

Mr. Barkley hasn't been the only former player that's gottin' into James ass. You don't have to be a former player to see when the chips are down James hasn't shown up. Two NBA finals? Hell, he didn't show during the regular seasons when it counted. When he should've taken it to the hole, James pulled up and missed far more last minute jump shots than anyone would care to remember.

Phunkdaddy, he's been a shrinking violet, painful but true. Worse, he still tryin' to talk shit? Please. James or Wade can't have it both. It was them who started to count their championships before the work to earn them. I don't have an issue with any screaming I'M THE MAN but when it's time to back up the trash talk and your number is called... than show up; at times the Heat appeared to think teams were going to roll over during the playoffs.

And you're right as well.

phunkdaddy said:

phunkdaddy said:

SCNDLS said:

Nowitzki says Wade, James ‘childish … ignorant’

MIAMI (AP)—Dirk Nowitzki(notes) said Saturday that Dwyane Wade(notes) and LeBron James(notes) were “a little childish, a little ignorant” in a video that appears to show them mocking the Mavericks star’s recent illness.

Wade said he really did cough and turned it into a generic joke because cameras were rolling. He and James blamed others for trying to make a big deal out of it.

MIAMI, FL - JUNE 11: Dirk Now…
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Dallas Mavericks ' Dirk No…
AP - Jun 11, 2:13 pm EDT

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The video taken by the CBS affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth shows Wade walking alongside James following a shootaround the morning of Game 5 of the NBA finals. Wade coughs, then says, “Did you hear me cough? Think I’m sick.”

Nowitzki was coughing and sniffling throughout Game 4 because of a sinus infection that also left him with a 101-degree fever. He played anyway and led Dallas to a victory over the Miami Heat that evened the series at two games each. The Mavs also won Game 5, sending them into Game 6 on Sunday night with a chance to be crowned champions.

The video of Wade’s cough spread across the Internet on Friday, when both teams were traveling. So it became a popular topic at news conferences Saturday.

“First of all, it wasn’t fake coughing,” Wade said. “I actually did cough. And with the cameras being right there, we made a joke out of it because we knew you guys were going to blow it up. You did exactly what we knew. We never said Dirk’s name. I think he’s not the only one in the world who can get sick or have a cough. We just had fun with the cameras being right in our face about the blowup of the incident, and it held to be true. You blew it up.”

Said James: “If you guys want to feed into everything that not only myself or D-Wade or the Miami Heat do, I think that’s a non-issue. There’s bigger issues in this series than that.”

The video clip runs 26 seconds. After Wade coughs, he and James laugh and tug their collars over their nose and mouth, as Nowitzki did during his interview following Game 4.

Nowitzki clearly didn’t see anything humorous about it. He considered them implying he may not have been sick.

“I’ve been in this league for 13 years. I’ve never faked an injury or an illness before,” Nowitzki said. “But (the video) happened. It’s over to me. It’s not going to add anything extra to me. This is the NBA finals. If you need an extra motivation, you have a problem.”

Translation: Fuck dem hoes . . .

Perfect example of oversensationalism the media especially the horde that have

this built in anger versus Lebron and the Heat. How many times have we seen Phil Jackson

do this same shit against an opposing player or team when they have injuries, illness, etc. and

come right out in the media and accuse the opposition of playing it up too much to get in the

opposition's head and the media label it pure genius. All of this hate because James chose to

go to Miami and they had a big celebration in South Beach shortly there after and everybody

felt they were proclaiming themselves pre season champs. No shit. We've never seen this before?

Hell the Baltimore Ravens proclaim themselves Super Bowl champs every year before we even

see a down of football. It's just their persona. Now the Jets are proclaiming themselves Super

Bowl champs every season. Every sport needs their villain and i understand it but the extra

hate for Lebron just doesn't make any sense especially when the guy the plays to win and

has become the ultimate team player and for the most part handles everything with class on

and off the court.

[Edited 6/12/11 7:09am]

Exactly. Any move they make, they get criticized. They were making fun of the media's coverage of his illness not Dirk. The pre-celebration criticism was killing me. Like really? You wanna get on them for that? It's funny how nobody talks about the celebrations that mavs players do too. It's all bullshit.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

phunkdaddy said:

This is Lebron's second time in the finals. The first time he did it in Cleveland with Tito, Marlon, and Randy and now he happens to have Wade and Bosch. There is a long list of players

who have not gotten the job done in big game situations and still have gotten a pass. I'm a

76ers fan but i am so sick of Charles Barkley running his damn mouth about other players and

he hasn't won shit for Philly or anywhere else. He constantly criticizes other players who have

accomplished more than he has but his constant Lebron and Heat bashing makes no sense. He

used to do the same shit to Iverson when he first got in the league. I thought i'd never see the

day when i say i would take delight in seeing someone kick Barkley's tired ass.

Barkley may have never won at title, be he used to show up big in big games

Really? is that why he has rings.

Sir Charles has whined his way out of Philly, Phoenix,

and through teammates under the bus in Houston.

Clyde Drexler has stated he needs to grow up and Mario

Elle has stated Houston did just fine before he got there.

I hope the fans in Miami pork roast his stupid ass.

phunkdaddy said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

phunkdaddy said: Barkley may have never won at title, be he used to show up big in big games

Really? is that why he has rings.

Sir Charles has whined his way out of Philly, Phoenix,

and through teammates under the bus in Houston.

Clyde Drexler has stated he needs to grow up and Mario

Elle has stated Houston did just fine before he got there.

I hope the fans in Miami pork roast his stupid ass.

If Dallas wins, he'd get the hell out of Dodge.

I kind of want the heat to win this one to see it tied it would make for a better finale but the mavs might have this.

Layzie said:

phunkdaddy said:

Perfect example of oversensationalism the media especially the horde that have

this built in anger versus Lebron and the Heat. How many times have we seen Phil Jackson

do this same shit against an opposing player or team when they have injuries, illness, etc. and

come right out in the media and accuse the opposition of playing it up too much to get in the

opposition's head and the media label it pure genius. All of this hate because James chose to

go to Miami and they had a big celebration in South Beach shortly there after and everybody

felt they were proclaiming themselves pre season champs. No shit. We've never seen this before?

Hell the Baltimore Ravens proclaim themselves Super Bowl champs every year before we even

see a down of football. It's just their persona. Now the Jets are proclaiming themselves Super

Bowl champs every season. Every sport needs their villain and i understand it but the extra

hate for Lebron just doesn't make any sense especially when the guy the plays to win and

has become the ultimate team player and for the most part handles everything with class on

and off the court.

[Edited 6/12/11 7:09am]

Exactly. Any move they make, they get criticized. They were making fun of the media's coverage of his illness not Dirk. The pre-celebration criticism was killing me. Like really? You wanna get on them for that? It's funny how nobody talks about the celebrations that mavs players do too. It's all bullshit.

Ditto. Jason Terry may be the biggest asshole of all.

Timmy84 said:

phunkdaddy said:

Really? is that why he has rings.

Sir Charles has whined his way out of Philly, Phoenix,

and through teammates under the bus in Houston.

Clyde Drexler has stated he needs to grow up and Mario

Elle has stated Houston did just fine before he got there.

I hope the fans in Miami pork roast his stupid ass.

If Dallas wins, he'd get the hell out of Dodge.

Hell if Miami wins, he better get the hell out of dodge.