Some from the Spurs have not yet recovered from the 2006 conference semi-finals loss against the Mavericks. And Mark Cuban revisiting the ’06 season has brought this pain to a more surface level. During his recent appearance on Jalen Brunson’s Roommates Show, Cuban alleged it was bad officiating in the favor of Dwyane Wade that led to his team’s loss against the Miami Heat in the ’06 Finals series. As this opinion was raised for a discussion on Big Shot Bob Podcast, Spurs’ Robert Horry did not seem to be too keen to talk about it.

Responding to Cuban’s claims about bad officiating, he stated the Dallas Mavericks’ owner shouldn’t have even been there in the finals. “Yeah. They foul. Dirk goes to the free throw line going overtime. We lose. So I don’t even want to talk about that sh*t,” he added, via the Big Shot Bob Podcast. His reaction is understandable since the semi-final series could have gone in either direction. For those who don’t remember the series’ Game 7 — want to hear something surprising?

The Spurs almost won the game had it not been for Dirk Nowitzki successfully posting a layup and also drawing a foul with 21.6 seconds left on the clock. While the layup brought the score to 103-104, still in Spurs favor, the successful free throw got that one point which leveled the score and forced an overtime, only for Mavs to win by 119-111.

Had Spurs won the ’06 finals, it would’ve been Horry’s 7th championship with the total coming down to 8 after the ’07 win. We understand your pain, Rob, we do. Meanwhile, Big Shot Podcast host Rob Jenner had different concerns altogether after hearing Mark Cuban’s allegations. The first one is why the Mavs owner was still hung up on the ’06 loss. And the second one was how accurate is the 66-year-old billionaire in his claims.

A deeper look into Cuban’s claims involving Dwyane Wade

During his appearance on Roommates Show, the Mavs owner stated D-Wade got penalty throws like freebies, even on the slightest of touch during his drive to the basket. Cuban claimed that there were games when the Heat icon shot more free throws than his entire team combined.

The claim doesn’t feel to be an overstatement, given that Wade shot 25 and 21 free throws in Game 5 and Game 6, respectively. In fact, the ex-Heat icon stands second in both — most free throws attempted (FTA) per game, and most FTA in a single game in a Finals series. As per StatMuse, both these records for The Flash came in the 2006 series itself. Meanwhile, Shaquille O’Neal holds the first spot in both categories.

However, even if in case the officials were to be blamed for awarding free throws in minor instances in ’06, it would hardly make any sense to blame Dwyane Wade for this. If anything, the Heat icon just made the best out of what he got. As he also holds the record for the second most free throws made in a finals series (2006), so even if Horry could’ve managed to get past the Mavs, one may wonder how easy it would’ve been for the Spurs to defeat the Heat roster, that included Wade and Shaq at the time.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.

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