The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. The Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, four games to two to win their first NBA championship.
Notable occurrences
A new league dress code was put into effect at the beginning of the year by commissioner David Stern. The Miami Heat win their first NBA championship in franchise history. They become the third franchise (joining the 1969 Boston Celtics and 1977 Portland Trail Blazers, later joined by the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2021 Milwaukee Bucks) to win the NBA Finals after losing the first two games. They are also the first of the four (two?) 1988/89 expansion franchises to win a championship. The All-Star Game was played on February 19, 2006, at the Toyota Center in Houston with the East beating the West 122–120. LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers won the game's MVP honors the youngest ever in All-Star Game history at 21 years, and 51 days old. This season marked the first season for the Charlotte Bobcats in their new arena in downtown Charlotte. Due to the damages caused by Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Hornets played 36 regular season games in the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, 1 game in the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma, 1 game at LSU's Pete Maravich Assembly Center, and just 3 games at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans in March. Due to the split, the team was officially referred to as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. This season marked the first under the NBA's new Collective Bargaining Agreement, agreed upon by the owners and the player union on June 21. The season was marked by the 30th anniversary of the absorption of four American Basketball Association members into the league: The Indiana Pacers, the New Jersey Nets, the Denver Nuggets and the San Antonio Spurs all joined in 1976. On January 22, 2006, Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a game against the Toronto Raptors. This was the second-highest single game scoring total in league history, second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game in 1962. Scottie Pippen (Bulls), Karl Malone (Jazz), and Reggie Miller (Pacers) had their numbers retired by their respective franchises. The NBA held the Hardwood Classics program for the fifth straight season. The Bulls, Rockets, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Nets, Knicks, Magic, Suns, Sonics, and Wizards all took part by wearing throwback jerseys for select games. On the last day of the regular season, Ray Allen broke the single season record for most three-pointers, at 269. The NBA Finals was jokingly referred to as the "American Airlines" series since both competing teams played in an arena sponsored by the same airline. The Miami Heat play their games at American Airlines Arena (now as Kaseya Center), while the Dallas Mavericks reside in the American Airlines Center. All five teams in the Central Division made the playoffs, marking the first time all teams in a division made the playoffs since the entire Midwest Division made it 20 years before. The Los Angeles Clippers made it back to the playoffs for the first time since 1997 and won their first playoff series since 1976 when they were still known as the Buffalo Braves. The Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves sport a patch in their warmups in memory of Hall of Fame player George Mikan, who died June 1, 2005, at the age of 80. On June 20, 2006, the Miami Heat clinched the NBA Finals, with Wade being the Finals MVP, averaging the third highest points per game in finals history, at 34.7, the highest points per a four-game stretch in finals history, at 39.3, and the highest PER in finals history, at 33.8. This marks the last season that Reebok as the official outfitter for the league until they merged with Adidas the following the season and would continue for the next ten years before Nike became the official outfitter in 2017. This also marks the last season for longtime Boston Celtics legend Red Auerbach's official involvement as their longtime executive before he died in October 2006.