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NBA FINALS: MAVERICKS v HEAT

June 6, 2011

Dwyane Wade

DALLAS, TEXAS: Practice Day

Q. Dwyane, what's been the difference for you from Conference Finals to now? Is it something you feel you've done on the court differently or just the stage of the NBA Finals that this comes out of you?
DWYANE WADE: I don't know. Obviously I struggled in the Chicago series. Didn't plan to struggle, just did. But, you know, I understood I was struggling and just tried to find a way to help my team win. This is a different series for me and for my team. I'm playing in a good rhythm, good flow. I've been in attack mode a little differently. Trying to be aggressive. I got some things to go for me. It's the game of basketball. Sometimes the same things you are doing in one game or one series might go, and another series it might not. So just always stay upbeat, always stay positive and it can turn.

Q. Dwyane, you've been very vocal with teammates, scolding them sometimes, and nobody more than Mario, I don't think. How is he taking that and how well does it serve him?
DWYANE WADE: First of all, Mario takes criticism great. I think that's why we are able to talk to Mario, whether it's in a calm manner in the middle of the game or a little more vocal. He takes it great. We just trying to make him a better player. He understands that.
You know, I don't really look at it scolding guys. I try to look at it as just the moment of expressing myself. We all do that to each other. Obviously whether it's me or LeBron, it probably gets overblown a little bit at times. We all stay on each other. We wouldn't be the team we are if we didn't, if we weren't able to be on each other and be able to tell the truth about what we feel at that moment.

Q. You guys have been asked about 1,000 times this year about end-of-game situations and who takes the last shot and all those kinds of things. How do you decide that at this point of the season you have to be the loudest voice in the room, talking to guys, keeping guys up, that sort of thing?
DWYANE WADE: I mean, obviously besides E-House and Udonis, I'm one of the three who has been able to win a championship. I've been able to understand there's a moment -- not saying our players don't understand big games. Take it upon myself at this time to be a little more vocal, to understand the moment a little more, and just you want it as well. Like I said, I've been here before. I've experienced a very weird tough series before to win the championship. I don't want none of these guys for us to walk away and say if we would have did this or would have did that. If you get beat, you get beat because you put it all out there and did everything you said you wanted to do.
When those moments are happening, I feel like it's my time to step up. Vice versa, if I don't do something, I expect my teammates to step up and tell me. Because I would take that from them a lot better anyway than from the outside. It's me feeling the moment and understanding this is it. We have eight days left in this entire season. You don't want to leave nothing to chance.

Q. I don't know if you could hear where you were standing, after practice at the All-Star Game this year, a few of your Olympic teammates were making fun of your age. I guess you're one of the older guys to them.
DWYANE WADE: 29. I'm so old.

Q. Some said you were 37. Seriously, you are likely to win a few titles together. Is there urgency before you're in your 30s to get one now and not wait too long?
DWYANE WADE: Not necessarily urgency because of my age. Urgency because you never know if you're going to get back to this point again. Nothing is promised to none of us. You never know what's going to happen in this game. If you get your opportunity, you have to seize it. It's not always going to be great, but you can say -- if I can retire one day and know that the times I've been in The Finals are the times I got there I put it all out there and no matter how many rings I have, I would feel better about myself to know I gave it my all in that situation.
Obviously you understand you can't play this game forever. Father time is undefeated in this league. I ain't that old. I'm only 29. I ain't that old yet. I think Kobe won two rings in his 30s. I'm all right.

Q. Dwyane people have said that LeBron has a lot of Magic Johnson in his game. I'm wondering, do you see that for the compliment that it is? And if there's truth in that, does that oblige you and other teammates to fill other roles and take other responsibilities if he's going to play that way?
DWYANE WADE: No question he has that kind of capability of a Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson and those type of players because of how versatile he is. LeBron don't have to score to be effective. You got a lot of players that's good players, and they may be one dimensional. He's multi-talented. It gives us a luxury at the end of games. A lot of times the ball is in his hands because first of all he's a great decision maker. He's 6'8" he could see over the defense, not only get his own shot but make plays for others. We have the luxury to say we want the ball in his hands.
His versatility is big. Not only for him as a player, but for what we are capable of doing as a team. And obviously on the defensive end him being able to guard one through five at times. That helps us out and makes all of our jobs a lot easier.

Q. Dwyane, short of the meltdown at the end of Game 2, you could be 3-0. Have you considered that at all?
DWYANE WADE: No. Can't think about that. You might not believe me, but no. I haven't. You can't think about stuff like that. Everything in life happens for a reason. If we come in and we win that game, if we run away with that game, I don't know if our sense of urgency is the same in Game 3. Who knows. So our sense of urgency was the way it was for a reason. We lost the game we know we shouldn't. We are up 2-1. That's what we have to focus on and worry about.

Q. DeShawn Stevenson just said when it comes to you guys getting fouled, you and LeBron, you guys are overly dramatic at times and great actors. I'm just wondering your response to that? And if there's a skill to selling a foul?
DWYANE WADE: No, I have no comment on that. We'll talk about that at the end of the series.

Q. Given you guys are up 2-1 here halfway to your goal, the way you guys came together, the ratings are up, things are looking very positive towards you, do you guys help the league in that regard? Doing the league a favor here? How do you look at this right now?
DWYANE WADE: I don't think we did the league a favor. The league did all of us a favor, by having this great league. Obviously, what we've been able to do with the star power down in Miami and obviously the city of Miami, it hasn't hurt in the sense of whether people don't like it or whether they like it. All year they've tuned in to see, is it going to be a meltdown with this team or is they going to do what some people expect them to do?
It hasn't hurt us at all. Obviously we've been having a lot of record-breaking views of people tuning in to check out a lot of our games. As players we appreciate the support, whether it's positive or negative, you're watching our game. That's what we appreciate. Because it's our job to make sure as pioneers of the game that it continues to grow long when we're done.

Q. Dwyane, just a few words, adjectives, if you could, how would you describe how ugly Chris Bosh's eye looked during that game last night? And also just if you could explain him fighting through that and making the game-winner that he did, what does that say about how he's grown through this process?
DWYANE WADE: Yeah, well obviously, obviously it was very ugly. He couldn't really keep it open without it watering. It's tough. If anybody got poked in the eye the way he did, especially coming off his eye being bad coming into the game. But for him to fight through it, stay focused and no matter what he did, we always say no matter what he did in the first 47 and 30 seconds of that game, he hit the biggest shot with 30 seconds left in that game. That's the kind of player and person that we believe in. He fought through it. At this time of the year everybody has to fight through something. That's why we're professionals.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Dwyane.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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