In an appearance on the “Roommates Show,” Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban called attention to the 2006 NBA Finals. That series, according to Cuban, was poorly handled by the referees and made it impossible for the Mavericks to keep up against Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal, and the Miami Heat.
“Shaq’s got it on the block and he just levels Erick Dampier pushes him out of the way, and hits two free throws and I’m like ‘Oh my god I just cursed us!’ Then Dwyane Wade starts driving to the hoop—every little touch, two shots, two shots. He literally, in multiple games, shot more free throws than our entire team. And that was it, and it was painful. I never got fined for it but they did officiate, in terms of picking the FInals refs, a lot differently back then. It was a lot of just who had the most seniority. That didn’t mean they were the best refs. And it was not a good series for us officiating-wise.”
With Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, and Jerry Stackhouse leading the way, the Mavericks secured the 4th seed in the West that season and finished with an impressive 60-22 record. Everything came together at the right time for the Mavericks and they cruised through the first three rounds, going 12-5 en route to the Finals.
Unfortunately for the Mavericks, their last hurdle proved to be insurmountable. Between the explosiveness of Dwyane Wade and the strength of Shaquille O’Neal, the Mavericks finally met their match. According to Cuban, however, it was the referees who ultimately put the series out of reach for the Western Conference champions.
After winning the first two games of the Finals, the series completely flipped and the Heat took full control. In Game 3, Wade scored a game-high 42 points in the win and went 13-18 from the charity stripe. Wade scored 36 in Game 4 to tie the series before dropping a series-high 43 two nights later. He shot 25 free throws in Game 5 alone, the same number that the Mavericks shot as a team.
With their backs against the wall, Dirk and the Mavericks did everything they could to avoid elimination but Wade could not be stopped. He went 16-21 from the line to finish with 36 points and close the series in six games. Later, even Wade acknowledged that he received some “superstar” calls during the matchup.
The Heat became champions that summer and Wade put on a historically great Finals performance to win MVP with averages of 34.7 points, 7.8 assists, and 3.8 rebounds per game. It was the fourth and final title for Shaquille O’Neal, who also enjoyed a generous boost from the officiating.
For the Mavericks, it wouldn’t be until four years later that they’d achieve redemption for their defeat and finally bring home a title of their own. Funnily enough, that series was also against Dwyane Wade and the Heat but with more balanced officiating it was the Mavericks who came out on top.
Today the NBA doesn’t handle such talk about their officials but they’ve improved the process a lot since then. Only the refs with the best records are given a spot in the Finals and officiating in general has never been in a better state for the league. The Mavericks have nobody to blame but themselves for last year’s brutal defeat against the Celtics.
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