Reliving Dwyane Wade’s Miami Heat career
By Cory Sanning
2006 Finals Masterpiece
The moment you’ve all been waiting for.
Trailing 0-2 to the favored Dallas Mavericks in the championship round, Wade and the Heat would return home for Game 3 in desperation mode. At the time, no team had ever come back from down 2-0 to win a title, so history was definitely not on Miami’s side.
In what proved to be a thriller, the Heat would rally back from a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Mavs 98-96. Gary Payton’s jumper with 9.3 seconds left put Miami up 97-95, and after Dirk Nowitzki split a pair of free throws, the Heat would hold on.
The last second thrills aside, the true wonder was Wade, who put on a clinic, scoring 15 of his game-high 42 points in the fourth quarter, sparking Miami’s comeback with about six minutes remaining. He also grabbed 13 rebounds, a postseason career-high.
Picking up where he left off, Wade would continue his dominance in a Game 4, scoring 36 points and leading the Heat to a 98-74 victory, evening the series at two games apiece. It was almost unbelievable to see. The Heat, written off and left for dead by the entire nation just days before, were now just two wins away from their first title in franchise history.
In the pivotal Game 5, Wade scored a then-postseason career-high 43 points, including two crucial free throws with 1.9 seconds left in the overtime to propel the Heat to a 101-100 victory in a very controversial finish, or at least Mark Cuban will tell you that. After falling behind by eight at the intermission, the Heat would pull within one after three quarters. Miami would fall behind by five in the fourth, and that’s when Wade’s magic began once again.
Wade scored 17 of the Heat’s 23 fourth quarter points, including their final 11 in regulation. His bank shot with 2.8 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 93 and forced overtime.
After three ties and five lead changes in OT, Gary Payton and Dirk Nowitzki would trade buckets in the waning minute, and Dallas would find itself up one with 9.1 seconds remaining.
After a Pat Riley timeout, the ball would wind up in the hands of Wade again, who would be fouled by Nowitzki in the act of shooting with 1.9 to go. Wade calmly sunk the first, and after a controversial timeout called by Josh Howard(Dallas’s final timeout,) would swish the second.
Devin Harris’s half court attempt was off, and the Heat had a 3-2 lead heading back to Dallas.
In the closeout Game 6, Wade once again scored 36 points and grabbed double-digit rebounds(10) as the Heat defeated the Mavericks 95-92, claiming their first title in franchise history. Udonis Haslem and Antoine Walker both recorded double-doubles as the Heat overcame a 14 point deficit to win their first championship.
Wade was the unanimous Finals MVP, finishing the series with averages of 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 steals with a whopping 33.8 player efficiency rating. Wade also shot a record 97 free throws in the six games, including 25 in Game 5.
Even now, a decade removed from this moment, the “15 strong” bond remains strong.
Next: The Down Years and Injuries