The silent treatment
Wade, Dirk all quiet after exchange
By ART GARCIA
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
As if tonight's Mavericks-Heat duel needed more subplots, the best player on one team called out the best player on the other because he disrespected his team.
Got that?
In the two weeks since Dwyane Wade bashed Dirk Nowitzki's leadership skills, a war of words never really revved up. (Not counting Mark Cuban's blog, of course.)
The two sneaker-wearing principals tried their best to move on. Sort of.
Though they've talked about the respect each holds for the other, Nowitzki and Wade didn't shake hands or acknowledge one another during the All-Star Game despite both being on the floor for the opening tip.
Don't expect a Magic Johnson-Isiah Thomas pregame kiss tonight.
Wade injured his left shoulder Wednesday night at Houston and won't suit up for Miami's only regular-season visit to American Airlines Center, site of the Heat's championship coronation last June 20.
"We all know that the last time they were on this floor they won, not just a game, the championship," Mavs coach Avery Johnson said. "It doesn't sit too well with any of us, but we can't do anything about that right now."
Nowitzki and Wade may make nice at some point. Or they may not. Either way, one won't be putting the other in his "Fave 5" any time soon.
Even if they don't like each other now, both superstars are too smart to let any more venom spill into the press. They've joined the mutual admiration society, extolling the virtues of the other team.
"No question," Wade said during All-Star weekend. "You've got to respect a team that, first of all, gets to the Finals and battled with each other for six games. It could have gone either way. It just so happens we came up with the right plays to win ballgames."
Nowitzki never disagreed.
"They beat us in the Finals," he said. "If I say we feel like we lost the championship, I never meant to disrespect him or the Miami Heat. Obviously, they did a great job on us. Otherwise they wouldn't have beat us.
"They got hot from Game 3 on. Dwyane was great. He carried them all the way to the championship, but we still didn't do enough to win. I didn't say all that to disrespect him or his team."
Balancing that line hasn't been easy for the Mavs, at least that's the way it's been perceived in South Florida. The Mavs, to a man, do feel they gave away the championship.
"We definitely feel like we feel," Jason Terry said with a long pause. "They feel like they feel. I almost said a little something right there. It's a game we want to win."
How many teams that fall short on the ultimate stage don't have regrets? Looking back at what could have been isn't unique to the Mavs.
Heat coach Pat Riley understands where the Mavs are coming from. As coach of the L.A. Lakers, Riley said they "choked away" the title to Boston in 1984.
"We always felt we should have won that year, and we voiced it," he said. "But we didn't [win]. Came back next year and won it. But I'm sure [the Mavs are] just voicing the fact that they feel like they should have won. That's all."
And how they lost is just as hard on them. Three of the Heat's wins were decided by a total of six points.
"To be so close in the games that we lost," Devin Harris said, "a few things change and we definitely could have won. Definitely, it's in the back of everybody's mind."
The Heat has always remained front and center. Nowitzki and Terry circled the two Miami games when the schedule was released.
The Mavs won at Miami last month against a team without Shaquille O'Neal and Riley. Both have returned, with Riley on the sideline for the first time in seven weeks at Houston.
Tonight won't be just any other night.
"It's a big game," Nowitzki conceded. "We're not going to lie about it. The way the Finals went was a very disappointing loss to Miami."
Who can argue?
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