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Wade defends Heat's 2006 title 10 years later

Lucy Nicholson / REUTERS

LeBron James is deservedly dominating headlines throughout the sporting world, after leading his Cleveland Cavaliers to an unprecedented Finals comeback that culminated in the first NBA title in franchise history. But a day after James' crowning achievement, his friend and former teammate had his own coronation - a decade ago to the day - on the brain.

In the 2006 Finals, a 24-year-old Dwyane Wade led the Miami Heat to their first-ever championship, upending the Dallas Mavericks with an individual performance that ranks along with James' among the greatest of all time.

Like James' Cavs, those Heat trailed the Finals 2-0 to a team that had been dramatically better throughout the regular season. In similarly impressive fashion, those Heat responded by rattling off four straight wins, with Wade averaging 39.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.5 steals, and a block.

His brilliance in that series, though, has been overshadowed in part by the circumstances surrounding them - specifically the 73 free throws he shot in those final four games, and more specifically the two he was awarded with 1.9 seconds remaining in overtime of Game 5.

The Heat, when Wade stepped to the line, were trailing by one. He hit both free throws, the Heat won the game, then the series, and Bennett Salvatore's foul call has been pored over, griped about, and encased in the granite of NBA conspiracy theory ever since.

On the 10th anniversary of his greatest feat, Wade was having none of it.

There's alot of coverage on the 2006 NBA Finals right now...One because it was the most controversial finals to date and today makes exactly 10 years to the date we won our first ever title as an organization and me as a player. It was one of the greatest moments in my life and probably one of the worst for the Dallas Mavericks. That's sports... we've all had our moments to feel both ways. Now what I'm reading about the series is unfair to me as a basketball player. Did I get some calls that I could have played through YES. We all do...but was I attacking every time I touch the ball...YES. This picture is an example of a play in game 5 that everyone said I didn't get fouled on. Listen most athlete have never committed a foul but D Harris my guy...this is a foul haa. All in all we did find a way to beat a team that was a much better team then us that season...but they got their payback in 2011 as a franchise so in my mind it's a wash..but iam proud to take a look back at these moments and say I had a hand in us winning our first ever championship. #2006

A photo posted by dwyanewade (@dwyanewade) on

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