The Heat were formed in 1988 as an expansion franchise along with the Charlotte Hornets and they along with the Orlando Magic are the only two NBA franchises to represent the state of Florida. Since then, Miami has fielded squads that have made the playoffs 15 out of 23 seasons, captured eight division titles and won the 2006 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks 4–2. According to Forbes Magazine, in 2010 the value of the franchise was $425 million.
Big 3: James, Wade, and Bosh era
The Miami Heat entered NBA Free Agency in 2010 with nearly $46 million in salary cap space, with the ability to re-sign free agent Dwyane Wade, and add two of the NBA's top players, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. According to Fox Sports Radio's Stephen A. Smith, speaking on his show just days after the NBA Draft, the Heat were "highly likely" to sign all three players. The New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat were in negotiations to sign LeBron James. On July 7, 2010, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh agreed to terms with the Miami Heat. Then on July 8, 2010, LeBron James held an hour-long special to announce his decision on ESPN to commit to playing with the Heat. Later that evening, the Heat announced the trade of Michael Beasley to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a pair of second round picks and cash considerations. The three are called the SuperFriends by many sportswriters and commentators, most notably those for ESPN, due to the fact that all three were taken in the top five of the 2003 NBA Draft and because they have become good friends over the years.
On July 8, 2010, it became official that NBA superstars and gold medal winning Beijing Olympic teammates LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh would be joining Miami. The Heat completed sign-and-trade deals, sending a total of four future first-round and two second-round picks to the Cavaliers and Raptors for James and Bosh (both signing 6 years and $110.1 million contracts). Dwyane Wade re-signed with the Heat for $107.59 million for six years. All three stars have early termination clauses in their contracts, allowing them to become free agents again in the summer of 2014. The final year on all three deals, for 2015-16, is a player option. The three made their debut at the 2010 Summer Heat Welcome Party at the American Airlines Arena on July 9, where they were introduced as The Three Kings by Heat play-by-play announcer and event co-host Eric Reid. Howard Beck of The New York Times described the national fan reaction to the party: "Everyone saw something: greatness, arrogance, self-indulgence, boldness, cowardice, pride, friendship, collusion, joy, cynicism, heroes, mercenaries."
By taking less than maximum salaries, Wade, James and Bosh opened the door for the Heat to further continue its roster makeover with the resigning of Udonis Haslem and signing of veteran swingman and teammate of Haslem at the University of Florida, Mike Miller for dual 5 year deals worth a combined $45 million. In order to fill the voids at forward and center, the Heat signed James's former teammate in Cleveland, Zydrunas Ilgauskas to a two year deal for the veterans minimum at $2.8 million, resigning Joel Anthony, and signing power forward Juwan Howard. In the guard department, the Miami Heat resigned guard Carlos Arroyo and signed former Celtics player Eddie House to a two-year contract for the veteran minimum of $2.8 million. Rookies Dexter Pittman and Da'Sean Butler, along with NBA Summer League standouts Patrick Beverley and Kenny Hasbrouck, also signed contracts.
The Miami Heat began the regular season with much hype going into their first game against the Eastern Conference Champs, the Boston Celtics. Many considered the Miami Heat as the team to break the single season record of 72 regular season victories set by the Chicago Bulls. On the opening game of the season, broadcast on the TNT Network and featuring the debut of reigning two-time NBA MVP James in a Miami uniform alongside Chris Bosh, the game was the most-watched NBA contest ever on cable television. The game earned a 4.6 rating, delivering 7.4 million total viewers and 5.3 million households beating the Chicago Bulls vs. Los Angeles Lakers on February 2, 1996.
The Heat lost the opening game 88-80 and got off to a 9-8 start due in large part to inconsistent play and injuries of key role players Mike Miller (thumb) and Udonis Haslem (foot). After losing four out of five games, including a Saturday night loss to the Dallas Mavericks on November 27, the team called a player's only meeting with the intent to get players communicate with each other. Much of the speculation was that Spoelstra could lose his job and that Heat president Pat Riley would return as coach, especially after a well publicized incident when James "bumped" into Spoelstra during a timeout.
Since the players-only meeting, the team had pulled together a 12 game win streak (10 of them by double-digits) and limited the opposition under the century mark (100 points) in all those games. During the winning streak, James led the Heat to defeat his former team by scoring 38 points (tying a Heat record for points in a quarter with 24 in the third) in a game that drew nearly 7.1 million viewers and earned a 25.4 rating in Miami. ESPN 3D aired its first NBA game in the third dimension on December 17, 2010 when the Heat defeated the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden., The Heat set a franchise record for wins in December with 15 and set an NBA record for consecutive road victories in a calendar month with 10 (including the Christmas Day matchup with the reigning two time champs Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers which the team won 96-80).
During a postgame chat with Sun Sports' Jason Jackson on January 3, 2011, LeBron James joked I see we sell out 99.1 percent on the road, so we call ourselves the Heatles off the Beatles, so every time we take our show on the road we bring a great crowd, giving the Heat's famed trio the unofficial nickname.
On January 27, 2011, via fan voting, LeBron James (forward) and Dwyane Wade (guard) were selected to be starters for the Eastern Conference at the All-Star Game becoming the second pair of teammates to be selected as All-Star starters in franchise history (Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade; 2006 and 2007). A few days later, forward Chris Bosh was selected as a reserve, marking the first time in Heat history the team has sent three players to the All-Star game in a single season.
Like the 2005-06 championship season, the Heat were criticized, for being unable to beat the top caliber teams of the NBA. This criticism though would just grow more and more as the regular season was beginning to wind down. Despite beating their division rival Orlando Magic two of three games, sweeping the Lakers 2-0, and beating both the San Antonio Spurs and the Thunder once, they had lost to the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics three times, swept by the Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks who swept the season series and continued their regular season dominance against Miami for their 16th straight victory dating back to the 2004-05 season.
Teammates Dwyane Wade (3) and LeBron James (6) during a game, often referred to as the Dynamic Duo.
In order to improve for the playoffs, the Heat signed guard Mike Bibby, who agreed to forfeit the $6.2 million he was owed by the Washington Wizards for the next season so that he could become a free agent and sign a league minimum contract with a contender. In the process, the Heat released Carlos Arroyo. In Bibby's first game on March 3, the Heat were leading the Magic by 24 points in the third quarter before the Heat were outscored 40–9 and lost 99–96. The following night against the Spurs, who held the NBA's best record (51–11), the Heat lost 125–95, their most lopsided loss of the year and their fourth loss in five games. In their next game against the Bulls, the Heat had a 12–point lead in the first half, but they ended up losing 87–86 after two failed shots by James and Wade in the last 6 seconds of the game. It was the Heat's 12th and 13th consecutive missed shots with a chance to tie or lead a game in the final 10 seconds of regulation or overtime. James had missed four in the four-game losing streak. It was the Heat's fourth straight loss, and the fourth time since February 24 they had lost after a double-digit lead. The Heat were 2–5 since the All-Star break, 5–13 in games decided by five or fewer points and 14–18 against teams with winning records. After the game there were reports of players crying in the locker room afterwords. On March 10, the Heat beat the Lakers, 94–88, and ended their five-game losing streak while also ending the Lakers' eight-game winning streak.
On March 27, Wade, James, and Bosh became the second trio in NBA history to have at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in the same non-overtime game (a home win against the Houston Rockets), matching Oscar Robertson, Wayne Embry and Jack Twyman for the Cincinnati Royals in a loss to the Philadelphia Warriors on February 2, 1961. Additionally, it was the first time that a team's trio recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds in consecutive games since Sidney Wicks, Lloyd Neal and John Johnson accomplished the feat with the Portland Trail Blazers in March 1975. It was also the first time in Heat franchise history that three players scored 30 points in the same game.
The 2011 Heat finished with a 58-24 record, third best in team history and a second overall seed, behind the Chicago Bulls who had the NBA's best record. Additionally, the Heat finished 5th in the NBA in attendance with 810,930 behind Mavericks, Cavaliers, Trail Blazers, and Bulls in that order (100.9% capacity). The Heat faced the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs and eliminated them in five games. In the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Heat defeated their rival Boston Celtics in five games, winning a dramatic overtime Game 4 in Boston and a come from behind Game 5 victory at home to finish the series. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat faced the Chicago Bulls. After being blown out by 21 points by the Bulls in Game 1, the Heat took home-court by defeating Chicago in Game 2, and winning their home Games 3 and 4, the latter of which came in overtime. In Game 5 in Chicago, the Miami Heat made a historic comeback, after being down 77-65 with 3:14 left, the Heat went on an 18-3 run to win, 83-80, capped by a key four point play from Dwyane Wade and clutch shooting from LeBron James. The Heat were selected to face the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals who had defeated the Portland Trailblazers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Oklahoma City Thunder. This series would be a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals, in which Dallas won the first 2 games and then they lost 4 straight to Miami. The Heat won Game 1 in Miami, 92-84 but in Game 2, the Heat were leading the Mavericks by 15 points with 6:20 left in the fourth quarter before the Heat were outscored 22-5 and lost, 95-93. The Heat won Game 3 in Dallas 88-86 with the game-winning basket scored by Chris Bosh. The Mavericks won Game 4, 86-83, holding LeBron James to a career playoff-low 8 points. The Mavericks won Game 5 and took a 3-2 series lead with a 112-103 victory. This is the first time since March 6 when the Heat lost two straight games, including the regular season, playoffs and the NBA Finals. The Heat lost game 6, thus Dallas won the NBA Championship in 6 games, 4-2 ironically The Mavericks lost to Heat in 2006 4-2. In Game 6, Dallas defeated Miami 105–95 to win the 2011 NBA Finals.
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