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Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Dirk Nowitzki And Dwyane Wade Clear The Air On Infamous Coughing Incident In 2011

Originally posted on Fadeaway World | By Gautam Varier | Last updated 1/19/24

The 2011 NBA Finals will be remembered for a whole lot of reasons, with one of them being LeBron James and Dwyane Wade fake coughing to mock Dirk Nowitzki. On the Why with Dwyane Wade podcast, Nowitzki and Wade spoke about that infamous incident.

"I was sick for that Game Four and then I ended up not seeing this until after Game Four," Nowitzki said. "So I saw this before Game Five I believe. I didn't appreciate it... I didn’t like it. It just, to me, it felt a little disrespectful. I felt I never had to fake an injury, I’ve never had to fake an illness to show anything. I didn’t feel well that day, had a little fever, and really that was it. So, I thought it was childish."

Wade completely agreed that it was childish what he and LeBron had done. Dirk said it didn't give him any extra motivation as such. He was just two wins away from his dream of winning a championship and didn't want this incident to become a distraction. Wade then explained why he and LeBron did it back then.

“It was kind of one of those things that happened (that) you didn’t know what it’s going to become," Wade said. "I remember walking down the hallway — and we were coming out of shootaround — and I think at this point we're up 2-1... Now, in our minds, we in control of it, we supposed to be up 3-0, and all the talk back to us is, 'Well, Dirk is sick. Dirk hand is this. Dirk is this.'"

(starts at 42:33 mark):

Wade said they were young and thought it was all just nonsense, so they fake coughed. Neither of the two thought it was too big of a deal, but the clip of them doing it spread like wildfire. Wade wishes he could erase that moment but, like Nowitzki, doesn't believe it had any impact on the series.

In case you haven't seen the infamous clip, you can check it out below.

Wade and LeBron were left with egg on their faces when Nowitzki led the Mavericks to victory in six games. The Heat were up 2-1 and seemed on course to get their hands on the trophy, but proceeded to stunningly lose the next three games. They were the overwhelming favorites, and the series will forever remain one of the most shocking upsets in NBA history.

For his herculean efforts, Nowitzki won Finals MVP, as he averaged 26.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game. The German came up big in the big moments time and time again, and it was one of the greatest postseason runs in recent history.

As for Wade, he was Miami's best player with averages of 26.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game. While this fake coughing incident was embarrassing, he at least played well, something that can't be said about LeBron.

James averaged just 17.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in the Finals. In my book, it was by far the worst playoff series of his career and remains the biggest stain on his legacy.

Even today, no one is quite sure what happened to LeBron in this series. He looked like a shell of himself and had he even played a little better, the Heat probably would have won the title.