Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki will never forget the time when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, then with the Miami Heat, mocked him for being ill during the 2011 NBA Finals.
Dubbed as Dirk's flu game, the Mavs great battled with flu-like symptoms since Game 4 of the said Finals series. Heading into Game 5 though, LeBron and Wade were caught by cameras poking fun at Nowitzki's illness by coughing and jokingly saying they were getting sick.
Now, discussing the moment in The Bill Simmons Podcast, Nowitzki admitted that he took it personally.
“I didn’t like that, of course. Like I said in the press conference the day after it, I’ve never in my career faked an illness or an injury. I’ve always, if I was ready to play I played. I didn’t love that, but at the end of the day, I was one win away from my dream, I wasn’t really letting that get into my head too much, but of course I wasn’t a big fan of that,” the Mavs icon shared, via Dallas Morning News.
Sure enough, all the mocking did not do LeBron James and Dwyane Wade any good, with the Heat falling to the Mavs in one of the most shocking and embarrassing upsets in NBA history. In Game 5 after the Heat duo trolled him, the German sharpshooter put forth a valiant effort to push Dallas closer to the title. He overcame adversity to finish with 29 points on top of six rebounds and two assists.
The Mavs closed the series in Game 6 as Dirk Nowitzki won his first title with the Mavs, which is also the first and lone championship the team has won in its long history.
Lesson learned: never poke a beast like Dirk.
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