Even Pat Riley can get things wrong from time to time, and boy did he get it wrong during the 2011 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban recently revealed some interesting comments that Riley made during halftime of Game 2 which backfired tremendously on him.
“Pat Riley says to me at halftime as I’m walking through — because you had to walk through the middle part right there — he goes, ‘Not long enough, not strong enough, Mark. We’re just too quick and too long.’ I’m like, I didn’t say anything bad, it’s Pat Riley, right? I’m not going to disrespect him. I’m like, ‘Okay.’ And then we come back… It was nice,” Cuban said.
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Riley appeared to be spot-on with his assessment when the Heat, who were up 1-0, led 85-73 with just over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter of Game 2. The Heat just seemed like the vastly superior team, but then the script was flipped.
The Mavericks stormed back to win the game 95-93, with Dirk Nowitzki scoring the game-winning layup. Dirk, who won Finals MVP, outperformed the Heat’s Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh the rest of the way as the Mavericks pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Finals history.
Riley should have known better than to run his mouth when the series was still going on. He would have been quite embarrassed by it as he saw the series unfold and while I’m sure Cuban would have loved to rub it in, the respect he had for Riley meant he didn’t.
Tyson Chandler Spoke About What Led To The Mavericks’ Epic Turnaround
While Nowitzki stole the headlines, his supporting cast certainly played their part in that stunning upset, with Tyson Chandler shining on the defensive end. The big man was on this podcast earlier this year, and Chandler revealed what turned the series between the Mavericks and the Heat in the 2011 Finals.
“They were whopping us in Game 2, and we were still almost shellshocked. What turned the series was when D-Wade the three by our bench and held it up and walked by our whole bench, like super disrespectful. After that, it was like ‘wake up’ and it woke us up.”
Many have indeed pointed to Dwyane Wade’s antics as what triggered the Mavericks’ comeback. The shot from Wade was what put the Heat up 12 points in the fourth, but after that, the Mavericks crushed them.
Pat Riley Called Out The Heat Players For Celebrating Too Early In Game 2
The basketball world was critical of the Heat’s celebrations when they went up, as they certainly were counting their chickens before they hatched. Even Riley actually called out LeBron and the Heat players for celebrating before blowing Game 2.
“We would have won that series had we not blown Game 2,” Riley said, per ESPN. “We were ahead by 15 with six minutes to go and our guys were celebrating like we’d won the championship, LeBron included.”
Riley’s comments to Cuban really do come across as him celebrating that they had won the championship in Game 2, so this might have been a bit hypocritical on his part to call out the players. Whatever the case, the Heat made amends for this disastrous showing by winning back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013.
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