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NBA FINALS: MAVERICKS v HEAT

June 11, 2011

Dwyane Wade

MIAMI, FLORIDA: Practice Day

Q. Dwyane, you were caught on camera fake coughing and it appeared that you were mocking Dirk. I'm wondering how would you feel if Jason Terry or Dirk came in today with exaggerated limps mocking your hip injury? Could you just address that?
DWYANE WADE: Yeah. First of all, it wasn't fake coughing. 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.

Q. Dwyane, can you talk about Erik said you just went through the walk-through you didn't go through the contact portions. Was that your decision or theirs? Will you need any additional padding or protection or anything like that regarding the hip?
DWYANE WADE: No, this is just another day of getting treatment and getting rest. I'll be totally fine when it comes to tomorrow. No extra padding.

Q. Dwyane, when you were here in '06, obviously you had Shaq, but it was pretty obvious in a close game it was going to be on your back to pull it out, do you feel that way now?
DWYANE WADE: No. Not on my back. We have different guys that can do different things in the games. There's been times where I've been the guy. There's been time when LeBron has been the guy. There's been times when Chris has been the guy, et cetera. No, I understood I was going to have the ball a lot and I was going to have to make the plays. Now it's not always that case. It hasn't been all year. And it is not going to change now. We're going to have many different guys have the ability to make something happen at the end of ballgames to win. Not just on the offensive end, on the defensive end as well.

Q. It isn't happening for the one guy we're thinking of, obviously. Do you see why?
DWYANE WADE: Excuse me?

Q. It's not happening for LeBron, obviously. Do you understand why that's happening?
DWYANE WADE: Obviously, he hasn't -- first of all, he hasn't taken that many shots in the fourth quarter. He's missed some. As we continue to state, it's not always about that end. We're losing games on the defensive end as a team. When it comes down to the end of games, it's hit or miss. You can hit some, you miss some over the course of your basketball career. LeBron has made plenty of big shots in this playoff run and hasn't been talked about much. Obviously him not making some shots in this fourth quarters is what everybody is concentrating. It's not about that end. We're losing ballgames on the defensive end of the floor. That's five guys right there, not just one.

Q. Dwyane, are you guys doing anything differently against Dirk than you were doing in 2006? And what is he doing to be more effective against your defense?
DWYANE WADE: Well, I mean, as we said when the series started, Dirk is going to get his average one way another. 6-for-18, whether he shoot 11-for-21, he gets enough opportunities. He's 7 foot, he's going to get enough good looks. We're just trying to make it tough for him as much as possible. Trying to keep him off balance. He's a great player. Great players find a way to get their average. For us to win the series, we have to make sure we contain other guys that's on the floor.

Q. Dwyane, as the fourth-quarter problems stem from defense, why do you feel like the Mavs have been able to exploit your defense at that time? And it's been a pattern if it comes down to that again, do you guys feel confident you can out-execute Dallas?
DWYANE WADE: Honestly, besides last game where they made some hell of a shots, you know, you go back and you look at the other games, both teams have struggled in the fourth quarter when it comes to shooting percentage-wise, because you have two teams that are pretty good defensively. They've made more plays than us to win these games. They've gotten to the line more times than us with the clock stopped. They've gotten more offensive rebounds than us at the end.
You look at the total series, they have four points more than us in the whole series. This is a very close series. Obviously, we've had leads in the fourth quarter that -- we're not the team that loses these leads, you give them credit for finding a way to win these games. That's not going to stop our lack of confidence. We know we're got to do things better. We know we can make minor judgments to win these ballgames.

Q. Dwyane, Spo was saying after Game 5 he told you guys if any of you had been offered two home games to win a title back at camp, up in September, that you all would have taken it.
DWYANE WADE: Yes.

Q. Is that any consolation right now, that all you have to do is hold serve?
DWYANE WADE: Well, obviously, first of all, we had a decision to make at the end of the season. Coach talked to myself, Chris and LeBron about the last game. It came down to possible, if we win this game we have home-court advantage. If we lose this game we wouldn't if we played certain teams if we get to the Finals. We said we have a lot of confidence in our teammates that they can pull this game out. Juwan Howard, Eddie House, Big Cat (Magliore) did a great job winning against Toronto. Our teammates did help us out and put us in this position where we can have the last two games at home.
Obviously I wouldn't want it any other way. But we're going to take it one game at a time. And come out here and try to win Game 6 and find out a way to win Game 6. We've been in every ballgame. And we understand having day to watch the film, having another day to talk about and make adjustments what we need to do. It's just about going on the court and doing it.
So this series is a long way from over. There's a lot of basketball left. And we're back home. We would rather have it here than anywhere else.

Q. Dwyane, as you know, Coach was just in here and he said, the important thing about LeBron is he doesn't have to answer to other people's expectations or opinions. We need to remind him of that, that there's a lot of ways he can help us win. He doesn't have to be the person other people want him to be.
DWYANE WADE: Yeah.

Q. How do you think he's handling all of that? And what are you telling him about how to handle it in his head over the next few days?
DWYANE WADE: Obviously, everyone wants him to score 40 points. They want him to make every shot that he takes. And if you do that, at the end there's going to be something else said. LeBron understands he has to be LeBron. I thought he did a good job last game. He had 10 rebounds, 10 assists. So he did a good job of getting guys involved, being active, and attacking at opportune times.
You have to give this Dallas Maverick team credit. Not going to let LeBron going 40-10-10. He's doing a good job. Obviously we want him to continue to stay aggressive. But we have to do a better job of getting more stops and getting more opportunities with our set defense. When you see set defense, he's seeing two or three guys. He's not forcing it. He's not going to settle and force shots. That's not who we are and that's not who he is, even though that's what people try to make him.
He's going to be LeBron no matter what. I think all you guys notice that personally. He's going to do what he wants to do. And how he does is it is only how he can do it, and that is dominate the game in many different facets.

Q. You went into Dallas in '06 ahead 3-2 and you closed them out. Is there anything you can take from being in that inverse experience, five years ago that being the home team and knowing that the team is going to kind of wait for you guys to collapse or, as you did to them, you kept coming at them in '06 and they finally kind of broke down?
DWYANE WADE: That's exactly it. We came into that game with the mindset we have to survive the emotional rush at the beginning of the game. They was up 14 points. We were able to close the gap within halftime. And we went into halftime very confident that we can win the ballgame.
As now being the home team, just understanding you have to keep that pressure on. You have to keep that emotional high going. Because this team right here, as they've shown, they're very resilient. They're not going to give up no matter the score. They're going to continue to play and keep coming at you. No matter what, if we're up or down, we have to continue to understand and play the game and continue to find a way to dominate the game and try to win the game. At the end of the day it doesn't matter if you win by 15 or half a point, it's about winning this ballgame. There's no tomorrow in that sense.
I think we're very confident in this situation. It's not a situation we're not used to. So we have to go out there and perform.

Q. Dwyane, LeBron said he has not been as aggressive in the fourth quarter, but recognizing you had it going similar to the reverse of the Chicago series. Does he need to not so much see what you're doing and show that aggressiveness in the fourth quarter?
DWYANE WADE: I mean, he just needs to play and do what he feels is right. He's done it to this point at times. So the same shots that he gets talked about, missing the three here, missing the three there, shouldn't have took that, should've attack, it's the same shot he hit against Boston at the end to close it out, two big threes. So it's about the game. It's about what he feels. And if he feels like shooting, shoot. If he feels like driving, drive. If he feels like passing, pass. Don't overthink it. It's the game of basketball.
He's one of the best players in the world. So we're not necessarily concerned about him to that extent. I want him to play and feel confident doing whatever he's going to do.

Q. Just talk about, you said it's not necessarily Dirk hurting you at the end of ballgames, it's the role players. Now that they have confidence, they've seen the ball go in the basket, do you go into Game 6 knowing you have to adjust things on guys like J.J. Barea, or their game won't necessarily travel coming back to Miami?
DWYANE WADE: No, they're good players. They have confidence because they've now done it in the fourth quarter. This team doesn't lack for confidence at all. Just listen to them talk. They don't lack for confidence at no point. So that's never been a concern of ours at all. Obviously we have to do different things on pick-and-rolls late with Dirk, set a lot of pick-and-rolls with Dirk, we have to do different things. At the end of the day we have to trust each other and do it a little harder and want it a little more.
When it comes to confidence, there's no lack of confidence nowhere in this series on neither team. So that won't be a problem.

Q. Dwyane, back in 2006, Pat Riley said when you get 50 touches or more a game, the Heat usually lose. Now do you find yourself having to limit your touches some games? Or do you have the green light now just to take the ball whenever you want?
DWYANE WADE: 50 touches, that's not in the game plan for me no more. That stopped in July. But just being aggressive when I get my touches and not always be aggressive to score. Just always trying be on the attack most of the time. Back then it was different. It was different kind of -- we had myself on the perimeter, Shaq was in the post. So it was totally different. Now with myself and LeBron handling the ball a lot and our point guards.
When I get my opportunities, I look for my opportunities, if it's there I'm going to take it. If it's not, I'm a willing passer as well. That's it.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Dwyane.

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