Dirk Nowitzki’s 'quiet confidence' fueled Mavs’ Finals run with savage Big 3 jab

Memories of the 2011 NBA Finals have been dancing through Dallas Mavericks fans' heads ever since they defeated the Miami Heat in six games on June 12, 2011, and Mavericks fans nearly got another taste of how victory at the highest level feels last season.

Dallas entered the 2024 NBA Playoffs as the No. 5 seed, and they battled their way through the LA Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Minnesota Timberwolves to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011.

Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving silenced all the doubters, and as Mavs fans know very well from the intensity-filled 2011 playoffs, rivalries were formed on Dallas' way to the NBA Finals last season. Old shades of Dallas' past rivalry with the Clippers returned with multiple scuffles and heated moments, and a new rivalry began between the Mavs and Thunder due to the nature of that series, but none of these rivalries come close to the one that Dirk Nowitzki and Dallas had with the Miami Heat.

Nowitzki and the Mavs fell to the Heat in a controversial series in the 2006 NBA Finals in which they blew a 2-0 lead, and 2011 gave them the perfect chance for revenge. 2011 was the first year that the Heat had the Big Three of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade.

Nowitzki's epic comment reveals his true feelings about Miami's Big 3

Nowitzki and the Mavs were familiar with Wade's game due to Wade and the Heat taking them down in the 2006 Finals, but this team with Bosh and James at the helm along with Wade was a completely different beast.

Ultimately, Dallas was able to take down the star-studded Heat team in a wild series in which every game was decided by less than 10 points, and the rivalry that began in the 2006 series returned. James and Wade fueled this growing rivalry when they acted like they were sick to make fun of Nowitzki who was actually ill at one point in the series, and it was clear that these teams didn't like each other.

Former Mavs center and 2011 NBA Champion Brendan Haywood recently sat down with Theo Pinson for an episode of "Run Your Race," and Haywood didn't hold back when retelling an old story about Nowitzki during the 2011 Finals which truly revealed how he felt about Miami's Big Three of Bosh, Wade, and James.

"Dirk had quiet confidence," Haywood said. "We taking on the big three, he's like eh, they ain't no real big three. If they really want to create a big three they would've came and got me."

It's uncommon to hear stories like this about Nowitzki due to how humble of a guy he is, but he also hates losing. This rivalry with the Heat was every bit of a true rivalry during Nowitzki's time in the NBA, and this statement showed how he truly felt about the Heat and how badly he wanted to win.

The Mavericks rallied around Nowitzki during these playoffs as he had been the team leader for ages, and his teammates stepped up around him during this intense series. They also didn't like how James and Wade made fun of Nowitzki before Game 4 of the NBA Finals, and Dallas proceeded to win the next three games.

Nowitzki will always be known as a Mavs legend for everything that he did on and off the floor for Dallas, and stories like this show why Mavs fans love him so much. He wasn't the type of player who would beat his chest and play with cockiness, but his "quiet confidence," leadership, and unreal scoring ability make him a player and person that the city of Dallas is forever grateful for.