The 2006 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2005–06 NBA season and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Dallas Mavericks were favored to win the championship over the Miami Heat.[1] Despite these odds, the Heat won the title in six games over the Mavericks, becoming the third team—after the 1969 Celtics, the 1977 Trail Blazers and later the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2021 Milwaukee Bucks—to win a championship after trailing 0–2 in the series. Dwyane Wade of the Heat was named Most Valuable Player of the series.[2]
2006 NBA Finals
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Team Coach Wins
Miami Heat Pat Riley 4
Dallas Mavericks Avery Johnson 2
Dates
June 8–20
MVP
Dwyane Wade
(Miami Heat)
Hall of Famers
Heat:
Gary Payton (2013)
Alonzo Mourning (2014)
Shaquille O'Neal (2016)
Dwyane Wade (2023)
Mavericks:
Dirk Nowitzki (2023)
Coaches:
Pat Riley (2008)
Officials:
Dick Bavetta (2015)
Eastern Finals
Heat defeated Pistons, 4–2
Western Finals
Mavericks defeated Suns, 4–2
← 2005 NBA Finals 2007 →
This series marked the first time since 1971 that the Finals featured two teams playing in their first NBA Finals series. It was the first occasion since 1978 that two teams who had never won an NBA Championship contested the NBA Finals. The two teams met again five years later in 2011, the second Finals appearance for both franchises, with the Mavericks winning the rematch over the Heat.
This was the second NBA Finals matchup of teams from Florida and Texas, after the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic contested the 1995 NBA Finals. Until the Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 NBA Finals, it was the last Finals loss by a team from Texas (the Rockets lost in 1981 and 1986) against eight championships (five by the Spurs, two by the Rockets, and one by the Mavericks, who won a rematch of this Finals in 2011). This was the only NBA Finals of the 2000s not to involve the Los Angeles Lakers or the San Antonio Spurs and also the first NBA Finals since 1995 neither Phil Jackson (Bulls and Lakers) or Gregg Popovich included as a coach. It was also the first NBA Finals where both teams' home arenas had naming rights owned by the same company. That company was American Airlines.