Miami Heat 1 Miami Heat
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Miami Heat 1 Miami Heat Miami Heat 2012–13 Miami Heat season Conference Eastern Conference Division Southeast Division Founded 1988 History Miami Heat 1988–Present Arena American Airlines Arena City Miami, Florida Team colors Black, Red, White, Gold Owner(s) Micky Arison General manager Pat Riley Head coach Erik Spoelstra D-League affiliate Sioux Falls Skyforce Championships 3 (2006, 2012, 2013) Conference titles 4 (2006, 2011, 2012, 2013) Division titles 10 (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013) Retired numbers 3 (10, 23, 33) [1] Official website heat.com Home Away The Miami Heat (often stylized in all caps as HEAT) is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). They play their home games at the American Airlines Arena in Downtown Miami. The team owner is Micky Arison, who also owns cruise-ship giant Carnival Corporation. The team president and de facto general manager is Pat Riley, and the head coach is Erik Spoelstra. The mascot of the team is Burnie, an anthropomorphic fireball. Formed in 1988 as one of the NBA's four expansion franchises, the Heat has won three league championships (in 2006, 2012, and 2013), plus 10 division titles and four conference titles. From February 3 to March 27, 2013, the Heat won 27 games in a row, the second-longest streak in NBA history (after the Los Angeles Lakers' 33 wins). In 2013, Forbes valued the Heat at $625 million, sixth-most-valuable among NBA franchises.[2][3] Miami Heat 2 The Heat are not related to the Miami Floridians, an ABA team in the early 1970s, although the Heat have occasionally paid tribute to the older franchise by wearing a replica version of the Floridians' uniforms for the NBA's "Hardwood Classics Nights" during the 2005–06 and 2011–12 seasons. Franchise history An expansion team formed in 1988, the Miami Heat began its early years with much mediocrity, only making the playoffs twice in its first eight years and falling in the first round both times. Upon the purchasing of the franchise by Micky Arison in 1995, Pat Riley was brought in as its team president and head coach. Riley acquired center Alonzo Mourning and point guard Tim Hardaway to serve as the centerpiece for the team, transforming Miami into a championship contender throughout the late 1990s. The Heat underwent a dramatic turnaround in the 1996-1997 season, improving to a 61-21 record, second best in team history and formerly a franchise record. That same year, Miami earned the moniker of "Road Warriors" for their remarkable 32-9 record on the road. On the backs of Hardaway and Mourning, the Heat achieved their first two victories in the playoffs, making it to the Conference Finals against the Chicago Bulls before bowing out in five games. Their biggest rivals of the time were the New York Knicks, Riley's former team, who would eliminate the Heat in the playoffs from 1998 through 2000. A period of mediocrity followed shortly thereafter, highlighted by missing the playoffs altogether in 2002 and 2003. In the 2003 NBA Draft, with the fifth overall pick, Miami selected shooting guard Dwyane Wade out of Marquette.[4] Free-agent swing-man Lamar Odom was signed from the Los Angeles Clippers. Just prior to the start of the 03-04 season, Riley stepped down as head coach to focus on rebuilding the Heat, promoting Stan Van Gundy to the position of head coach. Behind Van Gundy's leadership, Wade's stellar rookie year and Odom's break out season, the Heat made the 2004 NBA Playoffs, beating the New Orleans Hornets 4-3 in the 1st round and losing to the Indiana Pacers 4-2 in the 2nd round. In the offseason, Riley engineered a summer blockbuster trade for Shaquille O'Neal from the Los Angeles Lakers.[5] Alonzo Mourning returned to the Heat in the same season, serving as a backup to O'Neal. Returning as championship contenders, Miami finished with a 59–23 record, consequently garnering the first overall seed in the Eastern Conference. Sweeping through the first round and the semifinals, Miami went back to the Conference Finals for the first time in eight years, where they met the defending champion Detroit Pistons. Despite taking a 3-2 lead, Miami lost Wade to injury for Game 6. They would go on to lose Game 7 at home despite Wade's return. In the summer of 2005, Riley brought in veteran free agents Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason Williams. After a sub-par 11-10 start to the 05-06 season, Riley relieved Van Gundy of his duties and took back the head coaching job. The Heat made it to the Conference Finals in 2006 and avenged their loss against the Pistons, winning the series 4-2. Making their first NBA Finals appearance, they matched up against the Dallas Mavericks, who won the first two games in Dallas in routs. On the back of Dwyane Wade, the Heat won the next four games, capturing their first ever championship. Wade took the Finals MVP award for his efforts throughout the finals.[6] A four-year tenure of post-title struggles befell the Heat from 2007 through 2010, including a 4-0 sweep by the Chicago Bulls in the 1st round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs. In the 07-08 season, Wade was plagued by injuries, prompting Miami to hit rock bottom with a league worst 15-67 record. O'Neal was traded to Phoenix midway through the season. Riley resigned as head coach following the season, but retained his position as team president. Long time assistant Erik Spoelstra was promoted to head coach. A healthy and re-invigorated Wade led the Heat to 43 wins in 2009 and 47 wins 2010, making the playoffs in both years, though they would lose 4-3 in 2009 and 4-1 in 2010. Wade was the scoring champion in 2009 and the NBA All-Star MVP in 2010. Miami Heat 3 Jerseys 1988–1999 Home 1988–1999 Away 1999–present Home 1999–present Away 2001–present Alternate The original Miami Heat uniforms consist of simple striping, exclusive only on the right side of the jersey and shorts. The home uniforms were white with lettering in red, black and orange trim, while the away uniforms were black with red, white and orange trim; the numbers were white with red, black and orange trim, using the same font as the classic Los Angeles Lakers jerseys. The original 'flaming ball' logo is on the left leg of the shorts while the word 'Miami' is on the right leg. In the 1995–96 NBA season the Heat introduced a red alternate uniform with lettering and numbers in black, white and orange trim. The original white and red uniforms were reintroduced as throwback uniforms during the Heat's 20th and 25th anniversary seasons, respectively. The current Heat uniforms have been in use since the 1999–2000 season. These uniforms, though similar, have marked differences such as striping on both sides, change from orange to yellow trim, updated lettering and block numbers, and a modified 'flaming ball' logo on the right leg. The black away uniform numbers are now consistent with the lettering colors (white with red trim). The alternate red uniform was introduced during the 2001–02 NBA season, and features the city name and numbers in white with black trim. They were also the only team in the NBA to have the NBA logo on the right shoulder instead of the left, until the introduction of the Adidas Revolution 30 uniforms in 2010 which regulated all teams to have the NBA logo on the left shoulder. In the 2009–10 season, the red alternates were tweaked to include the "MH" secondary logo on the left leg; the 'MH' was also added on the beltline for the away and home uniforms, the 'flaming ball' logo was also moved to the left leg. For the 2012–13 season, the city name (Miami) replaced the team name on the black away uniforms. Similar to the Utah Jazz, Chicago Bulls and the Orlando Magic, the Heat had a dress code that prohibits players from wearing headbands on the court. Since then, however, the Heat have allowed the use of headbands, beginning with Jermaine O'Neal in 2009 and continued with the additions of LeBron James, Eddie House, Erick Dampier and Mike Bibby. Since the 2008 season, the Heat participated in the NBA's Noche Latina promotions, or Latin Nights. In commemorating the occasion, they use their black away uniforms, but with the wordmark "El Heat". In the 2011–12 season, the Heat planned to wear a 4th all-black alternate home jersey in addition to the existing 3 white, black and red road uniforms. These uniforms were unveiled in 2010 as exclusive fan apparel rather than for game use, but the Heat have planned to wear them in selected home games of the 2011–12 season (against higher ranked teams like the Bulls, Thunder, Knicks, Mavericks, Lakers etc.). These uniforms are in black and white trim; the lettering, logos and numbers traced only in white.[7] The Heat wore a variation of their current home uniforms on the opening night of the 2012–13 season, with gold accents and a patch of the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy on the right chest. The Heat unveiled a new all white home alternate uniform in the 2012–13 season.