Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban reflected on the 2006 NBA Finals between Dallas and the Miami Heat recently, and he didn’t seem to be a fan of the officiating in the series.
“And then, Dwyane Wade starts driving to the hoop,” Cuban said when talking about Game 3 of the 2006 NBA Finals. “Every little touch, two shots, two shots. He literally – multiple games – shot more free throws than our entire team. And that was it, man. And it was painful. I never got fined for it ‘cause – but they did officiating in terms of picking the Finals refs, they did it a lot differently back then. It was a lot of just who had the most seniority. And that didn’t mean that they were the best refs. And it was not a good series for us officiating wise, but it is what it is.”
While Cuban believes that there were multiple games where Wade shot more free throws than Dallas, it turns out that isn’t true.
In Game 1, Wade attempted 10 free throws and scored 28 points in a Dallas win. The Mavericks shot 26 free throws in that game. Miami only attempted 19.
Then, in Game 2, Dallas attempted 28 free throws, four fewer than the Heat (they took 32), but Wade only shot 14 of those free throws, making 11 of them on his way to a 23-point showing.
Things did start to get closer in Game 3, Miami’s first win in the series, as Wade shot 18 free throws and scored 42 points to lead the Heat to a win. Cuban recently shared that he thought Dallas was going to sweep the series while watching Game 3 before Miami stormed back to win.
In Game 3, Dallas still took more free throws than Wade, attempting 26 as a team.
Game 4 ended up being a blowout win for the Heat (98-74), and Wade only took nine shots from the foul line, his fewest of the series, in the win. Dallas attempted 27 free throws as a team in that matchup.
Cuban’s biggest gripe should come in Game 5, as Wade took the exact same number of free throws (25) as Dallas in that game. He shot 21-for-25 from the line on his way to a 43-point game. Still, through five games, there wasn’t a single instance where Wade alone took more free throws than Dallas.
Finally in Game 6, the final game of the series, Wade took another 21 free throws, but it was two fewer than the Mavericks (they took 23).
While it is shocking that the numbers were that close, Dallas still didn’t have a single game with fewer free throw attempts than Wade.
For the series, the Heat star shot 75-for-97 from the line (77.3 percent) on his way to winning the NBA Finals MVP award.
Cuban may not have had the details exactly right, but he clearly remembers Wade getting a lot of calls in the 2006 Finals. Luckily for the Mavs owner, Dallas did get revenge by beating the Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.
Now, both franchises would love to meet again in the 2024-25 season, especially since they’ve each made the Finals and lost over the last two seasons.