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The rivalry's central figure was Pat Riley, the head coach of both teams . Jeff Van Gundy took over Riley's stint as head coach of the Knicks, while his elder brother Stan Van Gundy was simultaneously an assistant coach for the Heat. Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning had been friends from their Georgetown college basketball period.

During the 2005–06 season the organization honored Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino's No. 13 in respect of his contributions to the National Football League 's Miami Dolphins. However, the No. 13 jersey is not retired and is still available for use by the Heat players. The Heat's flagship radio stations are WAXY in English, with Mike Inglis, former Heat coach Ron Rothstein, and former WNBA player Ruth Riley calling games, and WQBA in Spanish, with Jose Pañeda and Joe Pujala on the call.
How much are tickets to a Miami Heat game?
The Heat underwent a dramatic turnaround in the 1996–97 season, improving to a 61–21 record – a franchise record at the time, and currently second-best in team history. That same year, Miami earned the moniker of "Road Warriors" for its remarkable 32–9 record on the road. On the backs of Hardaway and Mourning, the Heat achieved their first two series victories in the playoffs, making it to the Conference Finals against the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls before losing 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.
After a historically short 72-day off-season, the Heat struggled to find consistency in the 2020–21 season, finishing as the sixth seed. They were swept in a first-round rematch with the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks. The 2021 off-season saw the departures of Dragić and Iguodala, along with the acquisition of veteran Kyle Lowry and P.
Boston Celtics
Larry Johnson, one of the Knicks, held bad blood with Mourning as far back as their days in the Charlotte Hornets. In the 2017–18 season, the Heat wore special "City" uniforms that paid homage to the hit 1980s TV series Miami Vice. The uniforms were white with pink, light blue and black trim and featured the "Miami" wordmark inspired from the logo of the Miami Arena.

His hand-picked replacement, longtime assistant Erik Spoelstra, is the current Heat head coach, a position he has held since 2008. At 38, he was the youngest head coach in the league at the time, as well as the first Filipino-American head coach in league history. Spoelstra led the team to four consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals, culminating in back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013.
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When asked about it after the game by reporters, James stated that he was "glad it happened to him." In the 2003 NBA draft, with the fifth overall pick, Miami selected shooting guard Dwyane Wade out of Marquette. Free-agent swing-man Lamar Odom was signed from the Los Angeles Clippers. Just prior to the start of the 2003–04 season, Riley stepped down as head coach to focus on rebuilding the Heat, promoting Stan Van Gundy to the position of head coach. In the off-season, Riley engineered a summer blockbuster trade for Shaquille O'Neal from the Los Angeles Lakers. Alonzo Mourning returned to the Heat in the same season, serving as a backup to O'Neal.

With subtle changes like the "Miami" wordmark on the black uniforms and the addition of the "MH" alternate logo on the shorts, these uniforms remain in use with the Heat today. In September 2016, Bosh failed his physical exam with the Heat and was not cleared by the team to participate in training camp. On September 26, 2016, Heat president Riley said he viewed Bosh's career with the team as over, noting that the team was no longer working toward his return. On July 4, 2017, the Heat waived Bosh a month after an NBA ruling declared his blood clotting issues a career-ending illness. Riley immediately announced that Bosh's number would be retired in the future out of respect to him and his accomplishments with the Heat.
During Miami's 2013 streak, Paul Pierce went on record to say that he wished for Miami to lose all of its remaining games by that point. When James voiced his displeasure over the Chicago Bulls' physicality against him, Boston's general manager Danny Ainge called it "embarrassing" for LeBron to complain about it. It ended in a Heat victory, one that featured James dunking on Jason Terry; he received a technical foul for staring down at Terry post-dunk.
Despite playing without Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Richard "Rip" Hamilton, and Marco Belinelli, the Bulls managed to end the second longest win streak in basketball history. During the 2013–14 season, the Heat wore a variation of their current home uniforms, but with the player's names at the back replaced by their nicknames (e.g. 'King James' for LeBron James). Since the 2007–08 season, the Heat participated in the NBA's Noche Latina promotions, or Latin Nights.
In 2015, they also gained Goran Dragić and his younger brother Zoran Dragić. In 1987, the NBA granted one of four new expansion teams to Miami ; the team, known as the Heat, began play in November 1988. The Miami Heat began their early years with much mediocrity, only making the playoffs twice in their first eight years and falling in the first round both times. In the much anticipated 2011 NBA Playoffs, Miami defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, Boston Celtics in the Conference Semifinals, and Bulls in the Conference Finals, all in 5 games. The Heat were swept by the eventual-champion Chicago Bulls in the first round of the postseason and returned to the play-offs in 1993–94, only to again lose in the first postseason series. The only major sport invented in the United States, basketball has become a global phenomenon.
Cavaliers fans rejoiced in the Heat's loss due to the anger that was caused by LeBron's decision to join the Heat, which they felt was unfair and a betrayal. After the second NBA Lockout ended, the Heat signed veteran Shane Battier. However they would struggle for the second half of the season, going 19–13. The Heat finished 46–20, earning the second seed in the East for the NBA playoffs.
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