Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban shared an anecdote from the 2006 NBA Finals when he thought the Dallas Mavericks had a chance to sweep the Miami Heat.
Unfortunately for Cuban, the Heat ended up winning Game 3, and the three games after that, defeated Dallas in six games.
“I sit behind our bench on the road,” Cuban said. “So I was sitting behind the bench. And, I’ll never forget, I remember standing up thinking to myself, ‘S— we’ve got a chance to sweep these dudes.’ We’re up 14 in the third. And boom, Udonis Haslem steals, breakaway. Then, they’ve got the ball, Shaq’s (Shaquille O’Neal) got it on the block. Shaq’s got it on the block. He just levels Erick Dampier, pushes him out of the way and hits two free throws.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I just cursed us.’ Shaq just hit two free throws when he’s shooting like 40-something percent. And then, Dwyane Wade starts driving to the hoop, every little touch, two shots.”
Wade, who ended up winning the NBA Finals MVP award that season, scored 42 points in Game 3, 36 points in Game 4, 43 points in Game 5 and 36 points in Game 6. The Hall of Famer did get to the line a ton, attempting 97 free throws in the series, including 18 in Game 3.
That wasn’t even Wade’s highest total from the line in the series, as he took 25 free throws in Game 5 and another 21 in Game 6. The Heat star shot 75-for-97 from the line (77.3 percent) for the series.
Cuban seemed like a good sport talking about the Finals loss, and there’s no doubt that the Heat completely flipped the script in the series. Miami lost both Game 1 and Game 2 by double digits, so Cuban likely thought that Game 3 was heading towards a similar finish.
Even though Miami won the series in six games, three of its wins came by three points or less (Games 3, 5 and 6). The only blowout was a 24-point win for the Heat in Game 4.
Cuban and the Mavericks ended up getting revenge on the Heat, defeating them in the 2011 NBA Finals in the first season with LeBron James and Chris Bosh in South Beach. However, Miami did go on to win two titles with those stars playing alongside Wade.
Now, both franchises are looking to win another title in the 2020s. Both teams have made an appearance (Miami has made two) in the NBA Finals since the start of the 2019-20 season, but neither team was able to come away with a victory.