Thread by @antimccockiner

Why the 2006 Finals weren’t rigged in favor of Dwyane Wade (thread).

For starters, Wade in the first two games: 25 PPG on 39% FG (both Ls)

Wade in the last four: 39 PPG on 51% FG (all Ws).

Clearly Wade shooting way better had a lot to do with the Heat coming back and winning.

The Mavs got out to a 2-0 lead with Wade averaging 12 FTAs a game. He was already getting to the line a lot but (of course) nobody was claiming it was “rigged” bc the Mavs were winning.

In G3, Wade shot 17 of his 18 total FTs BEFORE the last 8:30 the 4th QTR, the Mavs were up 12 at that point, so CLEARLY no “rigging” was happening up to this point.

For the rest of the game, as the Heat came back and won, Wade shot 1 FT

In the 4th QTR alone, he made 6/9 FGs (66.7%) and scored 15 total points with only a single FT in the last 8:30. Meanwhile Dirk had a chance to tie and choked it away, so clearly G3 was won bc of that and Dwyane Wade’s brilliance (42 PTS 13 REB on 14/26 FG (54%), NOT the refs.

In G4, Wade only shot 9 FTs, dropped 36 PTS on 13/23 FG (57%) and the game was a blowout win for the Heat (98-74).

Clearly no “rigging” here unless you wanna blame the refs for Dirk (who shot more FTs than Wade this game btw) shooting 2/14 FG and the Mavs shooting 32% FG.

In G5, Wade shot 25 FTs, as much as the Mavs’ whole team. The Mavs were leading 71-70 going into the 4th QTR where Wade drew 4 fouls resulting in 7 FTs.
6 of those FTs came as a result of two CLEAR fouls and one 50/50 blocking foul. The last FT was on a bad call on this AND-1:

People choose to only remember that one bad call and use it as an excuse as to why the game was “rigged” and completely dismiss Wade’s amazing 4th QTR (17 PTS on 5/8 FG). For comparison, the entire Mavs starting lineup went 5/16 FG..but let’s blame the game on a single FT😂

G5 went into OT where the Mavs were up one with 1.9 seconds left when this “controversial, phantom foul” was called:

Now you tell me, after seeing these two pictures, that show Wade being clearly fouled by NOT one..but TWO players at the same time, if that call was a “phantom call”. It clearly wasn’t..so Wade iced the game with two clutch FTs and got the Heat their 3rd straight win with 43 PTS.

That brings us to G6, where going into the 4th, Wade had 11 FTA on some really bad calls in the first half and the Heat were up by 3. Wade shot 10 FTs in the QTR but 4 were intentional fouls so we’ll focus on the 6 FTs that came from fouls in normal play.

Wade drew two legit and unarguable shooting fouls and this extremely questionable blocking foul:

There’s valid arguments as to if that was called correctly (Dirk was in the way, was moving his feet) but let’s say this was a bad call. So, did this call cost the Mavs this game, or was it Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki combining to shoot 0/11 in the 4th QTR?

Wade finished this game with a ridiculous 36/10/5/4/3 line on 56% shooting, but we’re gonna call the game/series rigged bc of some first half bad calls and a 50/50 call in crunch time? That happens in almost every basketball game...does that mean they’re all rigged too?

Hopefully you now (if you already didn’t before) realize that the 2006 Finals were NOT rigged. The Heat won because Wade had arguably the greatest Finals preformance in history, while Dirk and the Mavs choked badly. Refs clearly didn’t have an agenda.

It’s also worth noting that despite the Mavs being a jump shooting team, they only drew 14 less whistles than the Heat, who had Shaq, Wade, and operated mainly in the paint.

Miami also shot better in 3/4 games they won, and last time I checked, refs can’t rig jump shots. The Mavs also had the benefit of getting a couple bad calls against the Heat. Why would that happen if the series was rigged against them?

Please retweet and tag @DwyaneWade so we can hopefully kill this false narrative and appreciate how amazing this preformance was.

Tag @DwyaneWade !!