Dirk: Wade/Lebron "Childish and Ignorant"

[The Next Jordan]

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba...ory?id=6651707

MIAMI -- Dirk Nowitzki didn't find anything funny about the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade and LeBron James coughing and cracking jokes about being sick in front of cameras, calling it "childish."

Wade and James didn't mention Nowitzki's name, but it appeared they were mocking the Dallas Mavericks superstar while walking out of the American Airlines Center following Thursday's shootaround, before Game 5 of the NBA Finals. That's certainly how Nowitzki, who battled a sinus infection that caused a 101-degree fever during Dallas' Game 4 win, perceived the incident when he watched the video.

"I just thought it was a little childish, a little ignorant," Nowitzki said before Saturday's practice at AmericanAirlines Arena. "I've been in this league for 13 years. I've never faked an injury or illness."

Wade, who referred to Nowitzki's sinus infection Thursday as "the fun-loving story of him being sick," claimed Saturday that he didn't pretend to cough.

"I actually did cough," Wade said. "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."

James did not clarify whether his cough was fake or not. He declined to discuss the incident.

"I'm not feeding into that," said James, who has been heavily criticized for performing well below his standards during this series. "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."

Nowitzki, who is averaging 27.0 points and has consistently dominated in crunch-time during the series, agrees with that point. With the Mavericks up 3-2 in the Finals, Nowitzki's focus is solely on closing out the series to claim his first championship.

While the coughing and joking by Wade and James annoyed Nowitzki, he said it wouldn't influence his demeanor during Game 6.

"It's over to me," Nowitzki said. "It's not going to add anything extra to me. This is the NBA Finals. If you need extra motivation, you have a problem.

[kaiiu]

Dirk bout to go ham as fvck

[-playmaker-]

I saw that live...good for Dirk...



what was strange is when the media asked Wade about it an Wade said something like "I was really coughing, and we knew that Dirk was going to come out strong and we were right"

it was a confusing answer...I guess he knew he was being a tool

[imdaman99]

well, maybe the heat should continue their role as villains. hell jason terry tried it and talked smack about lebron and backed it up. maybe talking shit or mocking them and dirk seeing it could help them.

heat need to play their roles as villains. play angry, dirk is gonna light them up regardless. talk shit and get dirty. i grew up watching the knicks, when the knicks were outmanned (basically by the bulls) they slowed the game down and made it ugly. yes they never won, but no one beat mj. they got the closest probly though. make the game ugly, and pull it out.

with that being said, lets go mavs. close em out baby

[The Judge]

Dirk handled it like a boss, Wade and LeBron tried to turn it onto the press and fans like it was THEIR fault they got caught.

[adri41]

"It's over to me," Nowitzki said. "It's not going to add anything extra to me. This is the NBA Finals. If you need extra motivation, you have a problem.

That's the part I like. I'm kind of surprised Dirk even said anything, since he's so low key. Glad it doesn't seem like it really bothers him, though. Boys will be boys.

[The Next Jordan]

I saw that live...good for Dirk...



what was strange is when the media asked Wade about it an Wade said something like "I was really coughing, and we knew that Dirk was going to come out strong and we were right"

it was a confusing answer...I guess he knew he was being a tool

It was quite obviously making fun of Dirk, they were just backtracking to minimize the scrutiny and backlash they were gonna receive or have received already.

[cotdt]

Dirk is gonna go on a RAMPAGE in Game 6, will probably injure about 3 Miami players in the process.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Wade is just as bad as LeBron.

You knew the media was going to blow your immaturity out of proportion yet you STILL proceeded to do it? What an idiot

[Batz]

Wade's excuse...

[Burgz]

holy grammar lebron

[therammingman]

Wade's excuse...

i didnt expect wade to be such a *****. You did it...you said it...stop backtracking now. Be a man and stick to it instead of a BS excuse like this one...fcking retarded.

[Dizzle-2k7]

Heat are done.

[Dizzle-2k7]

Wade and Lebron about to get ROASTED.

[dude77]

irrelevant .. the heat are at home .. they have an excellent chance to win it all .. we're just gonna see who wants it more .. put up or shut up time for miami