To this day, Dwayne Wade still has to defend the amount of free throws he took for the Heat during the 2006 NBA Finals series against the Mavericks.
The Miami legend is about to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and was reflecting on the series, which Miami won 4-2.
Wade was awarded MVP for his efforts as he had a phenomenal series, which included a 42-point and 13-rebound effort in Game 3 that was the catalyst for the series win.
The now-41-year-old thinks his criticisms from the 2006 games are unjust and that modern day NBA players are much worse.
“Everyone wanted to make an excuse for something,” Wade said on The Crossover podcast. “And so one of the excuses they pulled out for me is, ‘Oh, he shot a lot of free throws.’ Well, why? Because my attack on the game was that. I attacked with that much force. And I attacked in angles.
“And yeah, did I get a couple superstar calls? You’re damn right. All superstars get ’em. But also outside of that, I put so much pressure on the defense that they had to — that they were outta place.
“And so I knew before people were practicing how to get fouls. Right now, these kids are training to get fouled. I didn’t train to get fouled. I just knew body angles.
“… I think that’s lazy for people to say that. Because if you know the game of basketball to know that I put so much pressure on the defense that they had no other choice sometimes but to foul me or be outta place defensively, which allowed me to get to the line.”
The 2023 Hall of Fame class will be officially enshrined on Saturday, August 12 and Wade will be among the honorees which also includes Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Jim Valvano, Becky Hammon, David Hixon, Gary Blair, Gene Bess, Gene Keady and the 1976 U.S. women’s national basketball team.
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