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Difino
| • | The Miami Heat (or the Miami HEAT as the name is officially rendered) are a National Basketball Association team based in Miami, Florida, USA.
In 1988, the Miami Heat were just an expansion team, and for the next couple of years, they played like one. However, the Miami Heat made their first playoff appearance in 1992, led by a core of Steve Smith and Rony Seikaly. They lost to the eventual champion Chicago Bulls.
The team's fortunes would change during the mid 1990's. In 1995, The Heat acquired center Alonzo Mourning from the Charlotte Hornets. The next year, Miami traded for talented point guard Tim Hardaway. These two players, along with a supporting cast of Jamal Mashburn, Voshon Lenard, and P.J. Brown, the Heat would go on to rise to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1997. Throughout the late 1990's, the Heat were engaged in a bitter Eastern Conference rivalry with the New York Knicks, who were led by Mourning's mentor Patrick Ewing. The Miami Heat only defeated the Knicks once, and that was in 1997. The Knicks would win their playoff series versus Miami in 1998, 1999, and 2000.
In 2001, Miami traded much of its core to Charlotte, and was defeated by them in the first round of the playoffs. This came during a season in which franchise center Mourning sat out much of the season with a kidney disease. The coupling of these factors led to Miami's downfall over the next two years.However, the Heat's fortunes changed (rather unexpectedly) in the 2003-2004. The Heat drafted Dwyane Wade in the 2003 NBA Draft, and that same offseason signed troubled players Lamar Odom and Rafer Alston. Odom and Alston surprisingly did not prove poisonous to the team's atmosphers, and after a 0-7 start, the Heat found themselves in the 2004 NBA Playoffs, where they lost to the Indiana Pacers.
The Miami Heat acquired Shaquille O'Neal for Odom, Brian Grant and Caron Butler via trade with the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 2004. The Heat made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost in seven games to the Detroit Pistons.The Miami Heat acquired Jason Williams and James Posey via trade with the Memphis Grizzlies for Eddie Jones and Antoine Walker from the Boston Celtics. And then they signed free agent Gary Payton, stocking their arsenal even more. Some sportswriters, such as Ste
Source: [wikipedia: miami heat]
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