Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

2006 NBA Finals

The 2006 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2005-06 National Basketball Association season. The Miami Heat won the championship in 6 games over the Dallas Mavericks, winning the final game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and becoming the third team to win a championship after trailing 0–2 in the series. This was Dallas' and Miami's first appearance in the finals. Heat guard Dwyane Wade was named Most Valuable Player of the series. It is considered to be the most controversial NBA Finals due to the fact that Dwyane Wade shot more free-throws than the entire Dallas Mavericks team in the last two games of the series.

Format

The Finals were played using a 2-3-2 site format, where the first two and last two games are held at the team with home court advantage. The NBA, after experimenting in the early years, restored this original format for the Finals in 1985. As of yet, the other playoff series are still running on a 2-2-1-1-1 site format.

The best-of-seven series began on June 8, 2006, with the Eastern Conference champion Heat (the second-seeded team in the East) playing the Western Conference champion Mavericks (the fourth-seeded team in the West). Because the Dallas Mavericks had a better regular season win-loss record, they had home court advantage.

The series was somewhat unusual in that it featured two teams who had never been to the NBA Finals before. The last time that had happened was 35 seasons prior, when the Milwaukee Bucks, led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, beat the Baltimore Bullets 4–0 in the 1971 NBA Finals.

Qualifying

The Miami Heat won the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals over the Detroit Pistons, 4–2.
The Dallas Mavericks won the 2006 Western Conference Finals over the Phoenix Suns, 4–2.

Broadcast notes

ABC had exclusive rights to televise the NBA Finals in the United States. Play-by-play announcer Mike Breen and color commentator Hubie Brown called the action, with courtside reporting by Lisa Salters and Stuart Scott. The featured song, aired throughout the playoffs, was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Runnin' Down a Dream."

Playoff rosters

Dallas Mavericks 2006 Finals Roster
Head Coach: Avery Johnson
PG	10	Darrell Armstrong	(Fayetteville State)
C	25	Erick Dampier	(Mississippi State)
SG	6	Marquis Daniels	(Auburn University)
C	7	DeSagana Diop	(Oak Hill Academy (VA))
SG/SF	44	Adrian Griffin	(Seton Hall)
PG	34	Devin Harris	(Wisconsin)
SF	5	Josh Howard	(Wake Forest)
C	28	D.J. Mbenga	(DR Congo / Belgium)
PF	41	Dirk Nowitzki - Captain	(Germany)
F	21	Josh Powell	(NC State)
G/F	42	Jerry Stackhouse	(North Carolina)
SG	31	Jason Terry	(Arizona)
F	2	Keith Van Horn	(Utah)

Miami Heat 2006 Championship Roster
Head Coach: Pat Riley
G/F	5	Derek Anderson	(Kentucky)
G/F	49	Shandon Anderson	(University of Georgia)
C	30	Earl Barron	(Memphis)
C	51	Michael Doleac	(Utah)
PF	40	Udonis Haslem	(Florida)
SF	24	Jason Kapono	(UCLA)
C/PF	33	Alonzo Mourning	(Georgetown)
C	32	Shaquille O'Neal - Captain	(LSU)
PG	20	Gary Payton	(Oregon State)
SF/G	42	James Posey	(Xavier (Ohio))
PF	25	Wayne Simien	(Kansas)
SG	3	Dwyane Wade - Captain	(Marquette)
F	8	Antoine Walker	(Kentucky)
PG	55	Jason Williams	(Florida/Marshall)
SF	1	Dorell Wright	(South Kent Prep HS, Lawndale, California)

Game summaries

Game One

Dallas' Jason Terry scored a playoff-high 32 points as the Mavericks overcame a 31–23 deficit at the end of the first quarter.

Game Two

Dirk Nowitzki had a stellar 26 point-16 rebound performance, and the Mavericks cruised past the Heat to take a 2–0 series lead.

Game Three

Led by Dwyane Wade's 42 points and 13 rebounds, the Heat rallied from a 13-point deficit with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The momentum-changing comeback was capped by a Gary Payton field goal from just inside the three-point line with 9.3 seconds left. Dirk Nowitzki had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with 3.4 seconds to go, but missed 1 of 2, sealing the win for Miami.

Game Four

Dwyane Wade shined again for the Heat with 36 points, and Miami held Dallas to just seven points in the fourth quarter en route to a series-tying, blowout victory. The Mavericks' low-scoring fourth quarter was the lowest ever by any team during the NBA Finals. Jerry Stackhouse caught Shaquille O'Neal with a flagrant foul that resulted in him being suspended for Game 5. Mavericks officials called the suspension of Stackhouse, who was a key player, unfair. Shaq later publicly said that the Stackhouse foul was less vicious than a love tap from his daughters.

Game Five

Making a strong case for NBA Finals MVP, Dwyane Wade was the star yet again with 43 points shooting as many free throws as all the Mavericks combined, leading the Heat to their third straight win over Dallas after being down 0–2 in the series. After a controversial play in which Mavericks owner Mark Cuban thought Wade committed a backcourt violation, Wade hit the game-winning free throws with 1.9 seconds left, and also made the shot that sent the game into overtime. He set an NBA Finals record for most made free-throws in a game with 21. The NBA, upon further review of the play, deemed that the officials made the correct call, and that there was no backcourt violation committed.

After the game, Dirk Nowitzki kicked a ball into the stands and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban caused many "acts of misconduct" resulting in both of them being fined $5,000 and $250,000 respectively.

Game Six

Behind Dwyane Wade's 36 points, Miami edged Dallas to win their first championship in franchise history as Jason Terry missed a critical 3-pointer that would've sent the game to overtime. Averaging 34.7 points per game in the championship series, Wade was named NBA Finals MVP (Most Valuable Player).

Trivia

Dwyane Wade shattered the free throw record in a 6 game NBA Finals with 97 attempts and 75 makes. He averaged over 16 free throw attempts a game.
The Heat became the second team to win the three middle games in a Finals series at home (2-3-2 format adopted in 1985), joining the 2004 Pistons as the only other home team to do so.
Though many will remember this as coach Pat Riley's fifth NBA Championship as a coach, he actually won one as a player and one as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980, bringing his total to seven championships. He claimed he would give all his previous championships back just for this title with the Miami Heat.
Riley was so confident in his team's ability (up 3-2 in the series after having won three straight in Miami) that when asked prior to Game 6 about their would-be plan for Game 7 he told reporters at a press conference that he only packed one suit, one shirt and one tie.

Further, according to O'Neal and many other Heat players, Riley had told them on the day the Finals started June 8 that they would win the NBA Championship on June 20.

All games were held in a building named after American Airlines with the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami. Because of this, the series was nicknamed by some as the American Airlines Series.
Both Dallas and Miami were expansion teams in the 1980s; the Mavericks joined the league in 1980, and the Heat joined the league in 1988.
Miami becomes the third team in NBA history to win the NBA Finals after being down 0-2 in the series. The 1969 Boston Celtics and the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers were the other two. The Celtics won games 3, 4 and 6 at home while winning game 7 in Los Angeles against the Lakers, while the Blazers won against the Philadelphia 76ers in games 3, 4 and 6 at home and in game 5 on the road. The Heat are the only one of the three to come back in a 2-3-2 formatted series.
The Heat are the third Miami-based professional sports team to ever win a championship. The Miami Dolphins won Super Bowls VII and VIII, and the Florida Marlins won the 1997 and 2003 World Series. In addition, the University of Miami have also won five National Championships in Division I college football and four NCAA College World Series NCAA Division I baseball titles.
This was the second NBA Finals in which the two teams came from Florida and Texas. Shaquille O'Neal also played for the Florida-based team in the 1995 NBA Finals; his Orlando Magic were swept by the Houston Rockets that year.

These two are the Florida teams' only Finals appearances; furthermore, this is the state's first NBA Championship win.

With the Mavericks' Finals debut, all three Texas teams have made the championship round at least once. The Rockets have four (2 wins, 2 losses), and the San Antonio Spurs have 4 (4 wins).
The Mavs were the third Texas team in the 2005-06 seasons to make the championship in a major sport joining the Houston Astros and Texas Longhorns football team.
The Heat's Antoine Walker and Derek Anderson won their second championship as teammates as the two were members of the 1996 National Champion University of Kentucky basketball team. Dallas' Keith Van Horn and Miami's Michael Doleac were also teammates at the University of Utah and from 1996 through '97, Kentucky defeated Utah in the 1998 NCAA Championship Game.
Both teams won their Conference Finals by the very same total that the Heat won the NBA Championship series, 4-2.
Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning became the second duo of former NBA Defensive Players of the Year to win an NBA championship together. (Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman won three as members of the Chicago Bulls between 1996 and 1998).
The Heat were the first Eastern Conference team in 20 years to win an NBA Finals that was not either the Bulls or the Pistons. The last such team to win was the 1986 Boston Celtics.
The 2006 NBA Finals has been the only NBA Finals in the 2000s not to feature either the San Antonio Spurs or Los Angeles Lakers.