Why would the NBA rig the 2006 Finals?

[ArbitraryWater]

It's totally irrelevant... Why are you looking for a motive? And honestly, how can't you see one? The Dirk Nowitzki led Mavericks, against young up and coming star DWYANE WADE, with SHAQUILLE O'NEAL who's ALREADY a top 10 great while Wade had the potential to be one? 2 of the most popular and highest jersey selling guys in the league. Superstars by definition. Wade hyped as the next MJ? And you wonder why they would favor them over the Dirk-led Mavericks with Mark Cuban?

[StephHamann]

It's totally irrelevant... Why are you looking for a motive? And honestly, how can't you see one? The Dirk Nowitzki led Mavericks, against young up and coming star DWYANE WADE, with SHAQUILLE O'NEAL who's ALREADY a top 10 great while Wade had the potential to be one? 2 of the most popular and highest jersey selling guys in the league. Superstars by definition. Wade hyped as the next MJ? And you wonder why they would favor them over the Dirk-led Mavericks with Mark Cuban?

@ Miami Fans

[Akhenaten]

It's totally irrelevant... Why are you looking for a motive? And honestly, how can't you see one? The Dirk Nowitzki led Mavericks, against young up and coming star DWYANE WADE, with SHAQUILLE O'NEAL who's ALREADY a top 10 great while Wade had the potential to be one? 2 of the most popular and highest jersey selling guys in the league. Superstars by definition. Wade hyped as the next MJ? And you wonder why they would favor them over the Dirk-led Mavericks with Mark Cuban?

Ok but why no rig in the first two games, why would they let the Heat go down 2-0 and then be down 13 in the fourth QTR of game 3?

Then only call like 3 fouls on the mavs in the 4th QTR of Game 3 with the Heat down 13 with 6 mins to go, (2 of those fouls being intentional).

It defies logic, all it boils down to is Wade having back to back 20+ FT's in Gm 5 and 6 = RIG, that's what the whole rig argument is based on.

[aj1987]

Can you read dude? We're talking about the NBA finals.

So, Wade averaged 16 FT's and the series was rigged. LeBron averaged 14 over 14 games and it's a great playoff run?

Anyways:

Right here:

http://207.58.151.151/forum/showthread.php?t=126843

Interesting facts:

In this playoff run, Dirk Nowitzki sets a record for must FT's hit during the playoffs shooting 209-229. Wade on the other hand shoots 202-250 with both players playing 23 games in the playoffs that year. For a player who is more of a slasher, Wade only managed to get 21 more free throws?

Furthermore, Wade shot 10 and 14 free throws in the first two games, so its not like he just got more free throws the next few games. He was already getting to the line a lot.

The total foul count in the series was 146 fouls committed by the Miami Heat and 160 fouls committed by the Mavericks. Fairly equal if anything.

Furthermore, it's amazing it was soo close considering the Heat have Shaq and Wade on their team. Wade is a driver who gets a lot of free throws anyway, and Shaq is a guy who teams love to send to the line. Also, the Mavericks were more of a jumpshooting team, with most of their driving coming from Harris and Howard.

Quick facts:
--Miami outrebounded the Mavs in 4 of the 6 games in the series.
--In the 4 games Miami won, they shot better in 3 of those matchups, with the only time they shot worse being by .8 of a %.
--Miami shot less threes then the Dallas team in 5 of the 6 games. The one time they shot more threes then the Dallas team, they lost.

Game 3:
Mavericks up 83-71 with 8:30 left. A lot of people claim that the refs took over here and helped guide Wade to victory.
Up to the 3rd quarter Wade had shot 15 free throws. In the 4th quarter, Wade shot only 3 free throws, and only 1 free throw within the 8:30 left. So the two other free throws he shot were before the 12 point lead the Mavs had.

Not to mention with the game score was 97-95 in favor of the Heat with 3 seconds to go and Dirk gets given 2 free throws. So the Mavs were given a chance to tie the game, and Dirk only hit 1 of 2 free throws to make the score 97-96 in favor of the Heat.

So in actual fact, Wade got no free throws in that 8:30, due to the free throws he recieved being out of desperation and the Mavs hacking to be able to get another shot off. So a total of 0 shooting fouls were called for Wade in the 4th.


Game 4:
98-74 win for the Heat. Mavs shot 31% and Wade had 9 free throws. Nothing to talk about really. Mavs completely outplayed.

Game 5:
This is the game where Wade goes onto shoot as many free throws as the entire Dallas team. 21-25 went Wade and 21-25 went Dallas. Game went into overtime as well.
Wade had 22 points going into the 4th quarter. Wade scored 17 in the 4th quarter with the last 6 points all coming from jumpers. Even the game tying shot was a jumper to level the game at 93-93 with 2 seconds left. No free throws needed. 7 of Wade's 17 points came from FT's. So he basically maintained his average foul shot per quarter rate in the 4th.

Then in the overtime, the score was 100-99 in favor of the Mavs with 2 seconds left and Wade was given 2 free throws. As many of you know, at the time there was great debate as to whether this was a foul or not. The play involved Harris and Nowitzki both hacking Wade and Nowitzki being called for the foul.



That was the play for those who have forgot. Many people say this wasn't a foul. Now take a look at what happened on this play:


Harris' leg clearly fouling Wade.

Also:
Dirk giving Wade a huge shove, just look at the amount of contact.



Not to mention Harris grabbed Wade's other hand on the way to the basket, but I don't have a picture. He didn't just slap it, but grabbed it and didn't allow Wade to have shooting motion. That is a foul even in late game situations. Two players hacking and getting a huge amount of contact. On his leg, one arm and pushing on his back. That has to get called even in the dying seconds.

EDIT: Picture found.



Harris' grabbing Wade's shooting arm, pretty much not allowing a shot to be attempted.

Game 6:

Heat win the championship with a 95-92 win. No controversy here

Wade had the best Finals performance in NBA History... Putting the team on his back in the Final 4 games (all wins) and scored over 35 pts per game in each one:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playof...Performances-1

^ GREATEST Finals Performance EVER !!

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/sho...5&postcount=19

The opposing team couldn't stop Wade without fouling, so he exploited that and won his team the game?

They changed the rules to get the scoring back up after the 04 season, handchecking was made illegal. It's why guys like Kobe,Lebron and AI had huge gains in the PPG department in 05-06, they learned how to exploit the new rules that favored the offensive player.

Here's a good post

From his Blog Maverick weblog, Mark Cuban's article 'If It’s Not Broke, Doesn’t Mean It’s Optimal. Even in the NBA';Feb 4th 2009:

"So a few years ago, Im watching the Pistons beat the Lakers in the Finals. I’m seeing Larry Brown’s Pistons fully take advantage of the rules. It was impossible to stay in front of Kobe. He could get anywhere he wanted on the court. The Pistons knew it as well. So every time he tried to get to the basket, they would body up and bump him. The officials did just as they were supposed to. Since Kobe had the advantage on the defender, they didn’t call a foul. However that little bump slowed Kobe down just enough that it gave Ben Wallace a split second more to on a pre rotation to the Paint, to be in a better position to defend the basket. Kobe still scored, but not quite as often as he may have otherwise.

At that point it dawned on me that the concept of playing the advantage in a one on one matchup had nothing to do with which TEAM gained the advantage. After all, its the team that scores the most points that wins. Detroit had a brilliant strategy and was playing it to perfection. After the finals, I sat down with the league and discussed with them the difference between player and team advantage. The discussion lead to changing the rules so that perimeter contact was called far more often."


Cuban got his wish and the already stringent anti-contact rules for perimeter play became even more strict. The unintended backlash ended up blowing up in his face:

"The NBA eliminated all forms of hand-checking before the 2004-2005 season. The rule was intended to give offensive players more freedom, but has given offensive players an unfair advantage. It’s virtually impossible to keep perimeter players out of the paint.

Unfortunately for Cuban and the Mavs, the rule changes he helped initiate contributed to Dallas’ loss to the Miami Heat in the 2006 NBA Finals. Dwyane Wade shot an NBA Finals record 97 free throws. To his credit, Wade attacked the basket relentlessly, but there were times when Maverick defenders beat Wade to a spot on the floor, had their arms to their sides, and were whistled for blocking fouls when Wade initiated contact. It was ridiculous. The Mavericks attempted 48 free throws in Game’s 5 and 6. Wade attempted 46 freebies over the same span

Cuban has done a lot for the NBA. But the hand-checking rule was better left unchanged."

-BallerBlogger.com, article: 'Cuban Helped Eliminate Handchecking'

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/sho...47&postcount=2

Credit: plowking and ImKobe

[ArbitraryWater]

Ok but why no rig in the first two games, why would they let the Heat go down 2-0 and then be down 13 in the fourth QTR of game 3?

Then only call like 3 fouls on the mavs in the 4th QTR of Game 3 with the Heat down 13 with 6 mins to go, (2 of those fouls being intentional).

It defies logic, all it boils down to is Wade having back to back 20+ FT's in Gm 5 and 6 = RIG, that's what the whole rig argument is based on.

Since when are game 1's rigged? lmfao

Wade all of the sudden averaging more than double as many FT's as peak Shaq

So legit.

[joe]

The NBA at that time was hell bent on making the game easier for guards. This was following the 2004-2005 rule change of disallowing handchecking. In 2006, the refs were still adjusting to that rule change. Star guards were getting away with murder and that is why so many of them were averaging 30+ points at the time. The 2006 finals was the culmination of that confusion and insanity. Any time it so much as appeared that Wade was in any way impeded, he got the call.

The game was not rigged, there was no cheating. It was utter confusion created by the NBA itself, in their attempt to create more star guards and impede defensive juggernauts, like the Pistons and Spurs. They did not want games in the 70s, they wanted excitement, fast breaks, and more Michael Jordans and Magic Johnsons. The refs were mostly innocent victims and did what the NBA wanted- call anything and everything on the perimeter.

[aj1987]

Since when are game 1's rigged? lmfao

Wade all of the sudden averaging more than double as many FT's as peak Shaq

So legit.

LeBron didn't even make the Finals with pretty much the same number of FT's.

[Warfan]

Cuban fukked himself over by bitching to the league, Mavs choked, wade went gawd mode, end of story.

[Akhenaten]

Since when are game 1's rigged? lmfao

Wade all of the sudden averaging more than double as many FT's as peak Shaq

So legit.

Remember in the series prior he avg 27 on 62%, those are prime Shaq numbers, he was that dominant in the paint. He has like 5 playoff series where he shot 53% or better and avg 25+.

Dude was that beastly in the paint. Was top 5 in dunks per game for YEARS. Avg 67-70% ON 7-9 ATTEMPTS PER GAME in the paint.

Ok so GM1's are never rigged (sorry I'm not up on the protocol for rigging series ), but then what about Gm 2, 3 and 4? Why let a team go down 3-0 which means certain defeat, if your intent is to rig the outcome in their favour?

[mlp]

people shouldn't focus on the calls Wade got, they should look at the calls the Mavs didn't get. that's why it was rigged. 2 sets of rules

[Spaulding]

I don't think many people seriously think it was "rigged". That has become a blanket term used anytime someone questions officiating. It's supid really. As far as that series, had Dallas made their freethrows they win. That's what's so ironic about all these conspiracy theories.

Ya over half time its people just trolling. People dont realize that if league was caught "fixing" the league would be devastated. Championships banners would be torn down, etc.

[pegasus]

White non-American vs. black American with much more marketing potential

If people hadn't talked about that rigging for years, the league would have had the nerves to rig the 2011 finals too.