NBA Insider with Ken Berger

Philadelphia – Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love, where MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki had no such thing for Dwyane Wade this morning when he commented for the first time on Wade’s recent verbal shots questioning Nowitzki’s leadership.

A couple of weeks ago when Dallas played Miami in a rematch of last year’s Finals, Nowitzki apparently struck a nerve when he said the Mavericks gave the championship away after blowing a 2-0 lead in the series and a late lead in Game 3. Wade, the Finals MVP, fired back on Thursday, questioning Nowitzki’s leadership in an interview with Miami reporters.

“Dirk said that they gave us the championship last year,” Wade said. “But he’s the reason they lost the championship, because he wasn’t the leader he’s supposed to be in the closing moments.”

Outspoken Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has responded to Wade in his blog, saying, “You don’t have a clue” about Nowitzki’s leadership and telling Wade, “You obviously have an over-inflated value of your own.”

Nowitzki hadn’t commented on the scrape until this morning, when I walked with him to the team bus after Dallas’ shootaround at the Wachovia Center in advance of tonight’s game against the 76ers.

“All I said two weeks ago when we played them was, we feel like we gave them the championship,” Nowitzki told me. “We had a 2-0 lead, we were up 10 with a couple of minutes left in Game 3. If we win that Game 3, we have a chance to close the series out. That’s really all I said, and I don’t know why he got all sensitive about it. That’s really the whole story. He said what he said, and I’m not going to go back and forth with him. If that’s how he feels, that’s how he feels.”

When I asked if he’s surprised that Wade went after him the way he did, Nowitzki said, “I really don’t care. Hopefully we’ll get a rematch and we’ll go from there.”

Dirk and D-Wade will go head-to-head again Sunday at the All-Star Game in Las Vegas. More importantly, mark Feb. 22 on your calendars: Dallas hosts Miami that night in the Mavericks’ first game after the break.

One curious tidbit from Dallas coach Avery Johnson, whose team has the best record in the NBA at 41-9 entering tonight’s game. Johnson, who comments on almost anything, refused to offer his opinion on the wave of mixed reaction from around the NBA to former player John Amaechi’s decision to come out as gay.

“We’ve decided as an organization that we won’t comment on that,” Johnson said.