Sounds Like Dirk Nowitzki Hated the Miami Heat 'Big-3'

Dirk Nowitzki will go down as one of the best NBA players of all-time who revolutionized the power forward position with his shooting ability. Nowitzki is also known as someone who played with a ton of sportsmanship and was a pretty easy going guy. But if you ask one of his old teammates, one thing Dirk hated was the 'Big-3' formed with the Miami Heat.

JJ Barea recently was a guest on JJ Redick's podcast and explained how Nowitzki felt towards the Heat during the 2010-11 season:

He hated Miami. He hated LeBron, Wade, (Chris) Bosh," Barea said. "He's never going to say that, but he couldn't stand it. ... Dirk, if you know him, he leads by example. He (didn't) lead by talking, but that year, in timeouts, and ... before the games, at halftime, he would talk, and he would talk loud, and (he'd) point fingers, and he was on one.

He had a different mindset that year. He was tougher. He was driving the ball more for some reason. He was either pump-faking and driving left. But when LeBron and Wade started making fun of him by coughing when he got a little sick ... that clip really hurt him. He will never say it, but he really saw the tape, and that tape really hurt him, and that gave him a little bit extra that he didn't need, but it gave him a little extra to finish them off.

Not only did Nowitzki voice his displeasure to teammates, he walked the walked as well as the Mavericks went on to beat the Heat in six games to capture their first NBA championship.

Disco Dirk was named the Finals MVP. How fitting.