Dirk Nowitzki Breaks Silence on ‘Rigged’ 2006 NBA Finals While Highlighting Personal Flaws

The biggest highlight in the Mavericks’ history was their 2011 championship. Dirk Nowitzki was crowned the Finals MVP with his 26 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. To date, it remains the only title for the Dallas franchise. However, this moment could have been sooner against the same opponent, Miami, in 2006. Reminding us all after two decades was Mark Cuban, who even got a stern rebuttal from the Heat legend, Dwyane Wade.

Let’s remember Dirk Nowitzki is in the middle of this because of his relationship with both Cuban and Wade. Cuban was the majority owner from 2000, when the German icon put the franchise on his shoulders. With Wade, Dirk got enshrined in the Hall of Fame together in 2023, and now both are part of the Amazon studio team as broadcasters. In his latest appearance, the 2011 Finals MVP took a measured approach without firing shots like Cuban.

The former majority owner said, “We hurt in 2006 after it was stolen from us, right? And I’ll take that to my grave that it was stolen from us.” It was during his appearance on the DLLS Mavs podcast. Recently, even Dirk Nowitzki appeared and spoke about his career and the future of the team. Naturally, he was asked about his opinion. “You know, honestly, a lot has been talked about there and I’m going to kind of leave that stuff in the past.”

Unlike Cuban’s fiery message, Dirk’s statement was composed, and rather than taking shots at opponents or the referees, this was more about self-reflection. “You know, we made some mistakes. I think we were inexperienced at times. We were up 2-0 and had a huge lead in game three. Didn’t pull it through. So, I honestly; I think it was on our hands. I wasn’t the finisher and closer that I was a few years later, and I missed a big free throw in game three, as I remember. So yeah, it’s just too easy. It’s too easy to make excuses now.”

The Mavericks led the series 2-0 and were up by 13 with 6:33 remaining, but the Miami Heat fought back and stole the game, going on to win four straight to win the series. That’s why Dirk Nowitzki even tipped his hat to his opponents, especially Dwyane Wade, who was the finals MVP in the 2006 series.”If you were up 2-0, you should be able to close this series out. But hey, I give them a lot of credit always. And they played incredible after that, and we couldn’t, we really didn’t have an answer for D-Wade and his ability to drive. And so I’m going leave the past in the past.”

Dwyane Wade reminded Cuban about Dirk Nowitzki’s super ability during the 2011 championship

Back in 2006, Dwayne Wade was in his third year as a pro, so when he won the Finals MVP, he became one of the youngest players to achieve this feat. Obviously, the comment about the finals being rigged hit personally for the Flash. The 3x NBA champion used his Wy Network podcast, The Timeout, to directly address Mark Cuban’s pointed remarks.“You’re not about to tarnish the work I put in as a young guy, to do something not a lot of young guys have done in this game and say it’s rigged.” But that’s not all, further, he added Dirk Nowitzki and his 2011 scoring should also be questioned, but that’s not the case.

“We get some foul calls, everybody got foul calls. We can, we can all go back and point. I can go back and point in 2011, in one of them series where Dirk have 48. He got 24 free throws in one of those games. Does that mean they did that? Does that mean that the refs wanted them to win? I don’t know, but it wasn’t rigged. Like, we still have to play the game,” said Wade. For context, the Heat star guard averaged 16.2 free-throw attempts per game in the series, including 25 attempts in Game 5. In fact, he shot 46 total over the last two games alone, which is why Cuban feels cheated.

On the other hand, in 2011, Dirk Nowitzki got the whistle 46 times and was able to shoot 97.8% from the free throw to win his first championship. That’s why Wade said such decisions are part of the game and shouldn’t be revisited to tarnish someone’s legacy — echoing the sentiment of the German legend, who wants things to be in his rearview.