Not long ago, Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban looked back on the 2006 NBA Finals between the Mavericks and Miami Heat while on a podcast and made some controversial remarks about the outcome of the series.
Cuban claimed that the championship series was “stolen” from his Mavericks, who lost in six games after taking a 2-0 series lead. Heat legend Dwyane Wade — who won Finals MVP honors after Miami captured its first championship in franchise history — subtly reacted to Cuban’s claim by liking an Instagram post about the 67-year-old’s comments.
Dwyane Wade and Mark Cuban
Wade was a beneficiary of foul calls against the Mavericks in those NBA Finals, and that’s maybe the main argument for the series being “stolen.” Across just six games played, he attempted a whopping 97 shots from the line and nailed 75 of them. He averaged 16.2 free-throw attempts per game against Dallas, the second-most free throws a player has ever averaged in a Finals series.
But the Mavericks certainly had their chances to step on the Heat’s throat, including in Game 3, when Dallas could have taken a 3-0 series lead but lost by two points after missing eight free throws and shooting just 69.2 from the charity stripe in that game.
Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki deserves a share of the blame for his team coming up just short of a title that year as well. After all, in the NBA Finals, he shot just 39.0 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from 3-point range. Ultimately, he didn’t score the ball with the level of efficiency Dallas needed to come out on top over Wade and company.
It’s understandable that Cuban seemingly still has sour grapes over how the 2006 NBA Finals played out, but claiming that the series was stolen from Dallas isn’t going to help Mavericks fans get that bad taste out of their mouths after all these years, and it’s only going to make them more bitter toward the Heat.
The Mavericks did win a title in 2011 and are looking to earn another one in the near future.