- [Narrator] In early 2022,
Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki sat side by side
during an "NBA on TNT" broadcast.
The air between these two Hall of Famers was light,
the conversation friendly.
Reggie Miller made sure to point out
that that represented a shift.
- Hey, do you want me to switch seats?
Is there still history here between you two?
- [Narrator] The history on paper is obvious.
Nowitzki's Dallas Mavericks met Wade's Miami Heat twice
in the NBA finals.
They had a rivalry, but when Dirk said this-
- Are you sure?
- There were some rough patches.
- [Narrator] He knew Reggie wasn't just talking
about rivalry, he was talking about beef.
(quiet baroque music)
The 2006 NBA finals presented a new huge opportunity
for either Wade or Nowitzki.
There could only be one.
Dirk entered the league back in 1998,
when the Mavericks made moves to acquire the gangly German,
then pair him
with another bottle blond newcomer, Steve Nash.
The next eight seasons
saw Dirk crush one assumption after another,
making the Mavs look smart
for valuing him more than everyone else did.
Not just a novelty bench player,
Dirk could contribute big minutes.
Not just a catch and shoot stiff,
he proved creative and feisty enough to be a top scorer.
Not just Nash's co-star,
he could lead a great team by himself.
That was where we found Nowitzki in 2006.
In the two years after Mark Cuban's franchise
let a future MVP walk away,
Dirk eased the pain of Nash's departure
by ascending to the game's upper echelon,
a tiptop scorer on a tiptop team
in the conversation for League MVP.
And the spring of '06 brought more "not just"s.
Dirk kept doing new stuff.
He led Dallas's first ever playoff series win
against the rival big brother San Antonio Spurs.
He led Dallas to an extremely satisfying
six game conference final victory over Nash and the Suns
to secure the Mavericks' first ever trip to the NBA finals.
By winning it all, Dirk could erase all doubt.
He could turn 28 years old as a champion and franchise hero.
Singularly powerful, "not just" anything
except a bonafide legend.
In the way stood the Miami Heat,
led by a player who had ascended even faster.
Dwyane Wade got drafted by the Heat in 2003,
immediately became Miami's clear cut centerpiece,
led them to a playoff series victory as a rookie,
and became an all-star by his second season.
And while Dirk's employer squandered his rising co-star
in free agency, Wade watched Miami boss Pat Riley
move Heaven and Earth to add star power in 2004.
It's Shaq!
This is a fun distinction
and I think it's worth appreciating
to understand the rivalry and beef to come.
Dirk lost his best ever teammate,
then proved he could carry the Mavericks.
Dwyane proved he could carry the Heat,
then gained his best ever teammate,
up to that point anyway.
More to come.
But for the time being,
we had the 2006 NBA finals
and for all Miami's big name talent,
Dirk and the Mavs had the upper hand.
They'd foreshadowed as much in the regular season.
Dirk's Mavs had beaten Wade's Heat
almost every time they met, including what Shaq called
"a good, old-fashioned Texas beatdown" in February '06.
Many experts favored the Mavs
and Dallas validated that choice
by winning games one and two by comfortable margins.
Dirk Nowitzki stood two wins away
from that legacy-securing, doubt-obliterating title,
and if he'd hit this last second free throw
instead of rimming it out
or if he had avoided Wade's fingertips
with his buzzer-beating lob, who knows,
maybe he could have taken game three in Miami.
Instead, that narrow defeat began a sickening turn
for Dirk and the Mavs.
The Heat won game four in a romp to tie the series.
For game five, things got peculiar.
While Dirk had an off night, Wade racked up 43 points,
thanks in large part to his 25 free throw attempts.
That number is still a single game finals record
for anyone but Shaq in 2000,
when he was getting fouled on purpose.
This was a controversial amount of whistle blowing,
it still is,
and it included one of the most scrutinized calls ever,
Wade driving and drawing a Nowitzki foul,
securing two free throws to take the lead
with less than two seconds remaining in game five.
That made it three straight wins for Miami
and it left the Mavs feeling very sour.
Nowitzki got fined for kicking the ball into the stands.
Then he said not only had he not fouled Wade,
but Wade pushed off multiple people to make that play.
As recently as 2016,
Nowitzki hadn't gotten over that officiating,
and he's not alone.
And game six in Dallas was more of the same.
Wade played brilliantly and drew 21 free throw attempts.
He missed two critical ones down the stretch,
but no one remembers that because the Heat pulled it out
for their first ever championship.
There was plenty to whine about
and you better believe Mark Cuban and company whined,
but the outcome was the outcome.
Wade was a winner in his youth.
Dirk was a loser in his prime.
He and the Mavs blew it.
This hurt Dirk's reputation, not to mention his psyche.
It was fodder for the doubters
and Wade pressed salt in the wound.
Before the first Mavs-Heat rematch in January of '07,
Nowitzki was one of several Dallas players
to publicly mourn their finals collapse
and suggest they had given away the series.
Wade took offense.
I imagine he hadn't forgotten the accusations
of a friendly whistle in the '06 finals
and these new comments pushed him over the edge.
Wade pointed the finger straight at Dirk.
Dirk was the reason the Mavs lost the 2006 championship.
Dirk wasn't the leader he's supposed to be
in the closing moments.
This to me is ground beef zero.
Dirk was like, "whoa, man,
didn't know you were so sensitive."
"No personal issues," said Dwyane.
"Just don't disrespect my team like that."
As ever, Mark Cuban was the loudest person involved.
He blogged about it.
And Dirk and Wade didn't see much more of each other in '07,
but things were pretty tense at All Star weekend.
And Wade's ad hominem attack echoed
throughout an even more humiliating playoff outcome
for Nowitzki and the Mavs.
Dirk earned 2007 Most Valuable Player
and led Dallas to its best ever regular season,
only to suffer
one of the most shocking first round playoff upsets
in league history.
He was the very rare MVP to collect his trophy
after getting eliminated from the playoffs, a grim scene.
And then Dallas fell short again in '08 and '09 and 2010.
Meltdown after meltdown.
Now in his thirties
with only so much star caliber basketball left in the tank,
Dirk faced the risk of a legacy
defined in part by the nasty defeat
and nasty appraisal dealt to him by Dwayne Wade.
Nevermind that the Heat had themselves fallen off.
Wade had his ring.
The summer of 2010 was pivotal
for NBA history and also for our beef.
Wade and Nowitzki were both free agents.
To ensure Wade would stay and to pursue more rings,
the Heat assembled one of the greatest
and most famous collections of stars ever.
Dirk, meanwhile, just kind of quietly re-signed in Dallas,
accepting a significant hometown discount.
Dirk's decisions stoked new narratives.
Nevermind that he admitted the super team offer,
even with Miami, would've been tempting.
In any event, the Miami bonanza created immediate pressure
on Wade to win his second ring.
Dirk ... well, even after the Mavs traded for Tyson Chandler,
no one, including Shams Charania,
expected anything but the usual.
As the 2011 playoffs approached,
plenty people guessed the Mavs would once again fail
to make it out of the first round.
But Dirk and company caught fire
and after taking down the young Thunder
in the conference finals,
met that super team in a surprise finals rematch of '06.
This time, Miami took the early series lead two games to one
after Dirk missed a last second attempt to tie game three.
Tough shot.
The story verged on becoming a repeat,
but Dirk saved the Mavs late in game four.
Playing through the symptoms of a sinus infection,
Nowitzki spearheaded a Dallas comeback
and this time delivered in the clutch to tie the series.
In a way, that was Dirk doing exactly
what Wade said he didn't back in '06.
Even ill, Nowitzki displayed leadership
in the closing moments.
But Wade certainly didn't acknowledge that.
He thought the media made too big a deal
of Nowitzki playing through illness.
Here on national television
is how he and LeBron made that point.
- What you gotta say?
(coughing)
(laughter)
- It's hard to go from 85 degree weather, man, go to 90.
(coughing)
- [Narrator] Yeah, they are pretending to cough.
Pretty rude.
That's beef, baby!
When asked about this mockery in retirement,
Wade sounds like he still feels bad.
It was the folly of youth,
not something he would ever teach his own kids to do.
At the time though, Wade was totally unapologetic,
committed to the beef.
But this time Dirk got the last laugh.
In game five, an efficient 29 points to go up 3-2.
In game six, victory in Miami
and, with it, two firm hands on the Larry O'Brien Trophy,
a championship that hardly anyone saw coming, revenge.
So was Dirk motivated by beef?
Did watching his rival
and established critic make fun of his sickness
push him to victory?
Dirk certainly didn't think it was cool.
- Well, I just thought it was a little childish,
a little ignorant.
- [Narrator] But no, he insisted he wasn't fueled
by any animus for Wade and friends.
- It's not gonna add anything extra to me.
This is the NBA finals.
If you need an extra motivation, you have a problem.
- [Narrator] In retirement,
Dirk says basically the same thing, and this makes sense.
He already had plenty to prove, plenty to motivate him.
But Dirk's teammate on the champion Mavs, JJ Barea,
saw something different.
He saw beef.
- He hated Miami.
He hated LeBron, Wade, Bosh.
He's never gonna say that, but he couldn't stand it.
- [Narrator] And he saw a star fueled by that beef.
- When LeBron and Wade started making fun of him
by coughing when he got a little sick,
that clip really hurt him
and that gave him a little bit extra that he didn't need it,
but it gave him a little extra to finish him off.
- [Narrator] Beef is not a clean source of energy,
but it is a good one.
And while Wade never got a re-rematch with the Mavericks,
he does point to that 2011 disaster
as an experience that shaped his approach
and allowed him and the Heat to win titles thereafter.
I think that's why this beef never went
beyond some petty comments and fake coughing.
Both stars ultimately achieved resolution,
met and exceeded individual expectations,
and secured legendary legacies.
If either Wade or Nowitzki had an unhappy ending,
had to retire a loser, then this beef may have spiraled.
Instead, they get to be villains
in each other's heroic tales.
Things are fine now,
even if they were frosty in the past.
That doesn't mean they're great friends though
or that they're past needling one another.
When Wade's 2018-2019 farewell tour passed through Dallas,
he took a moment to recreate his ball toss
to end the '06 finals.
All in good fun, but when explaining that decision
to retire at 37, Wade offered a quote that Mavs fans read
as an actual shot at the older Nowitzki,
who stuck around through age 40,
even though he no longer had it, mostly riding the bench.
So yes, it's all cool now in retirement.
Everybody got closure, they exchanged jerseys,
they do interviews together, whatever.
But Reggie knows, you know, and we know
you can't tell NBA history
without a chapter about Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade.
And that chapter isn't complete
without some pages of prime beef.
(harmonic hum)