Dwyane Wade shot a jaw-dropping amount of free throws in the 2006 NBA finals against the Dallas Mavericks. He shattered records and destroyed linear projections. The attempts were so much more than normal, that other players and coaches throughout the NBA couldn't help but take notice and make comments. Let's look into the numbers:
FTA Per Game
Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant are two players with a similar tendency to get to the free throw line so I will use their averages and "highest averages" to compare how much more Wade's 2006 finals average was.
Dwyane Wade's career playoff FTA is 6.9
Kobe Bryant's career playoff FTA is 7.4
Kobe Bryant's career playoff FTA is 7.4
Dwyane Wade's five highest FTA (discounting 2006) are: 9.9, 8.5, 8.3, 8.0, 8.0 ('05, '11, '09, '07, '10 - respectively).
Kobe Bryant's five highest averages are 9.4, 9.2, 8.7, 8.6, 8.0 ('01, '08, '03, '09, '10).
Kobe Bryant's five highest averages are 9.4, 9.2, 8.7, 8.6, 8.0 ('01, '08, '03, '09, '10).
Dwyane Wade's FTA in the 2006 Finals was 16.2
That is a 65% increase from his second highest average of 9.9 and a 70% increase from Kobe's highest free throw average of 9.4!
Free Throw Attempts Total
Now lets take a look at the records for most FTA in a playoff series:
- Most FTA in a 4 game series - 68 by Shaquille O'Neal 2002
- Most FTA in a 5 game series - 79 by Karl Malone 1992
- Most FTA in a 6 game series - 97 by Dwyane Wade 2006
- Most FTA in a 7 game series - 100 by Charles Barkley 1986
As you can see by the numbers and also by the line graph (below), Wade's 97 total free throws in a 6 game series is ridiculously higher than it should be on a linear tread line, even when dealing strictly with record holding numbers.
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Tim Donaghy, ex NBA Ref, said in his book "I knew from the get go that Dallas didn't have a chance in the NBA finals. People in the NBA front office had no love for Cuban and the majority of NBA Referees had even less."
