MIAMI — The Miami Heat have found some new
motivation against the Indiana Pacers. Or at least Dwyane Wade believes they
have.
Following Tuesday's 78-75 Game 2 East semifinal loss to the Pacers, the Heat
guard was asked about Thursday’s Game 3 at Indiana. But he still wanted to
talk about Game 2.
"I heard they wanted to be like the Dallas Mavericks, in a sense,"
Wade said about an apparent reference to Pacers coach Frank Vogel using last
year's Mavs team, which beat the Heat in Miami for the title, as motivation for
Indiana. "I saw their little celebration at the end of (Game 2). I don't know
if they didn't expect to win, but every night we go out on the court, we expect
to win."
Wade then was asked about the celebration, but didn't elaborate on what
specifically irritated him.
"They say their identity, they say they want to be like Dallas," Wade
said. "So they celebrated like Dallas, I guess."
Told what Wade said, Pacers guard Paul George said he didn't see anything wrong
with what his team did after the game.
"If that's what he wants to fuel this loss, they should come out just the
fact that we came here and took a win from them," George told FOX Sports
Florida. "But we won this like we weren't surprised. We won it, and went
right to the locker room."
George said Wade was just looking for something to motivate the Heat.
"I think it's an excuse," George said. "We won this game fair
and square. We walked off and went to the locker room and now we're ready to
get out of here. ... It's the same way
when they won (Game 1). They celebrated, so we just did the same thing."
This isn't the first time the Pacers have been accused of celebrating with too
much zeal on an opponent's court. Chicago guard Derrick Rose made that
accusation when the Pacers won 95-90 on Jan. 25 at the United Center.
Perhaps it fired up the Bulls. They won 92-72 when the teams next met, March 5
in Chicago.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at christomasson@hotmail.com
or on Twitter @christomasson
