Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade responded on X after his former teammate Shaquille O’Neal explained that they had an argument in the 2006 NBA Finals.
"You wanna be the man? What the f*ck you gonna do?"
—@SHAQ tells @Money23Green about his first argument with @DwyaneWade in the NBA Finals pic.twitter.com/xpr0Jx46W5
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) June 4, 2024
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) June 4, 2024
When Wade and O’Neal got into the argument in question, the Heat’s pursuit of the 2006 title was in dire straits. Miami lost Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks by double digits, and O’Neal looked like a shell of his former self against Dirk Nowitzki and company.
The big man averaged just 11.0 points per game across the first two games of the championship series, and in Miami’s 14-point loss in Game 2, he scored just five points on 2-of-5 shooting from the field.
It seemed like in order for the Heat to rally back and win the best-of-seven series, Wade was going to need to emerge as an unstoppable scoring option, and the guard did just that.
He scored 36-plus points in each of the last four games of the series, including a series-high of 43 in Miami’s one-point victory in Game 5. Wade shot just 11-of-28 from the field in the crucial Game 5 but made the most of his opportunities to score points at the free-throw line, as he knocked down 21 of his 25 attempts from the charity stripe.
After torching the Mavericks for 43 points in Game 5, he followed up that performance by dropping 36 points in the deciding Game 6.
For the series, Wade averaged 34.7 points per game on 46.8 percent shooting from the field and 77.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line. He also added 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 steals per game.
Unsurprisingly — as no player on the Heat outside of Wade averaged more than 13.8 points per game in the NBA Finals — the now 42-year-old earned the Finals MVP award for leading Miami to its first title in franchise history.
When the Heat needed it most, O’Neal challenged Wade to step up his game, and the former Marquette University standout responded by putting Miami on his back for the remainder of the championship series.
