LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh talked about winning five rings in as many seasons when they first united with Miami last July, and they’re now just three victories away from fulfilling year one of that prophecy.
But even if the Heat were to claim the 2010-11 NBA championship, they still wouldn’t be the best team in the franchise’s history. At least according to WhatIfSports.com, a site that simulates sports games, they wouldn’t be.
After Shaquille O’Neal‘s recent retirement, WhatIfSports.com ran 1,001 simulations that pitted this year’s Miami team, led by the modern-day Big Three, against the 2005-06 squad that knocked the Dallas Mavericks out of the NBA Finals in six games. And according to site, the Shaq-Wade combo prevailed 51.2 percent of the time by a one-point average margin of victory.
The website included the lineups for each team, along with a sample boxscore from the game. Apparently the “Big Diesel” made the big difference, as he scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the win.
WhatIfSports.com also matched Shaq’s four NBA title-winning teams against one another, and once again the 2005-06 Miami Heat came out on top. His 2001-02, 1999-00 and 2000-01 Lakers teams ranked second, third and fourth, respectively based on the site’s simulations.
