Posted by Matt Moore

DALLAS -- An intense and focused Dwyane Wade said at shootaround Thursday morning before a crucial Game 5 of the NBA Finals that while LeBron James doesn't need the comments coming out of the Mavericks' camp to get his focus back, Wade and the Heat "appreciate" the Mavs saying it anyway.

"(LeBron) doesn't need it, but it adds fuel to the fire. We appreciate Dallas for that. Even if he had lost focus, he was going to get it back, but we appreciate the words that are coming out of their mouths."

Wade definitely exuded a high level of confidence for his superstar teammate Thursday morning, while acknowledging that James gets worse headlines than the rest of the Heat. Wade joked that in the eyes of the media "everything LeBron does is great, he can do no wrong," before rolling his eyes.

"LeBron obviously wants to play better, but it's not always about the scoring aspect. It's just about playing better overall." 

James notoriously vanished in Game 4, and his teammates took the bullet for him on Wednesday. On Thursday, James acknowledged that has to "bounce back" in Game 5. Wade, though seemed absolutely confident in the guys he's taking the floor with. 

"I look across the locker room and I see the guys I'm coming onto the floor with, I'm way more confident going into a 2-2 game than I've ever been going into a 2-2 game."

It's weird to see the Heat acknowledge the media attention the way he has, but at some level it's unavoidable because of the constant attention. The Heat have to win two more games to finally "shut up" everyone. If they don't, they can look forward to only more of the criticism, particularly on LeBron. On Thursday, Wade seemed to have no intention of allowing that to happen.