Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban said that after the team got eliminated by Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and the Miami Heat in the 2006 NBA Finals, Dirk Nowitzki no longer consumed unhealthy food and alcohol during the season.
“When we lost in 2006 in the Finals to Miami, Dirk’s attitude changed completely,” Cuban said. “Dirk just became a different human in terms of preparation. I mean, literally no alcohol during the season, which wasn’t how he used to be, trust me. No sweets, no fried food during the season.”
The Mavericks made their first NBA Finals appearance in franchise history back in 2006, five years before Dallas won its first NBA title in 2011.
Heading into the 2006 championship series, Nowitzki was widely regarded as one of the NBA’s top players. At the time, he was on the heels of a season in which he finished third in the league’s MVP voting and averaged 26.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.0 block per game for a Mavericks team that won 60 games of its 82 contests.
After the first two games of the NBA Finals, it seemed as if Nowitzki and the Mavericks were primed to capture the league’s ultimate prize. Dallas won both Games 1 and 2 by double digits, and the overwhelming majority of teams with a 2-0 lead in the championship series have went on to win the title.
As of this writing, 37 teams have held a commanding 2-0 series lead in the NBA Finals, and all but five of those teams took the series.
But unfortunately for fans of the Mavericks, Dallas is one of the select few teams that have lost the NBA Finals after winning the first two games.
The Mavericks lost Games 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the best-of-seven series, and Nowitzki deserves a share of the blame for Dallas’ collapse. He shot just 39.0 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from 3-point range when the lights were at their brightest.
However, as aforementioned, Nowitzki would finally capture his first NBA title several years later. He got revenge against the Heat, too, considering the Mavericks eliminated Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and the Heat in six games in the 2011 NBA Finals.
It seems as though the fact that the Mavericks came up just short of the 2006 NBA title served as a reality check for Nowitzki, and he became a better player and athlete as a result.