Miami Heat Tickets: Miami Heat Have a Tough Game on Sunday Thirteenth February
The Miami 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 American Airlines Arena. The team is owned by Micky Arison, coached by Erik Spoelstra and are managed by Basketball Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley.
The Heat were formed in 1988 as an expansion franchise along with the Charlotte Hornets. Since then, Miami has fielded squads that have made the playoffs 13 out of the 21 seasons, captured seven division titles and won the 2006 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks 4/2. According to Forbes Magazine in 2009 the value of the franchise is $364 million.
In Florida, a state devoid of NBA franchises, groups from Orlando, Tampa/St. Petersburg and Miami all vied to land franchises.
The Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority eventually endorsed a group led by NBA Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham and former sports agent (and lifelong friend of Cunningham's) Lewis Schaffel, who received their financial backing from Carnival Cruise Lines founder Ted Arison, who would be majority owner. Day-to-day operations would be handled by minority shareholders Cunningham and Schaffel.
In April 1987, the NBA expansion committee endorsed the bids of the cities of Charlotte and Minneapolis. However, the committee was split between awarding the third and final franchise to Miami or Orlando, causing representatives from both cities to toss barbs at the other. Finally, it was decided that the NBA would expand by 4 teams, with the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat debuting for the 1988/89 season and the Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic beginning for the 1989/90 season. At the survey for the choice of the name, Miami Heat defeated Miami Vice, the famous detective show set among the palms of South Beach.
The Heat came into the NBA for the 1988/89 season with an unproductive first year, with a roster full of young players and journeymen. Among the players on the inaugural roster were first round picks Rony Seikaly and Kevin Edwards, fellow rookies Grant Long and Sylvester Gray as well as NBA vets Rory Sparrow, Jon Sundvold, Pat Cummings, Scott Hastings, Dwayne "Pearl" Washington and Billy Thompson. The team started out the season by losing its first 17 games, at the time an NBA record. It did not help that the Heat were placed in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference, in defiance of all geographic reality. This forced them on the longest road trips in the NBA; their nearest divisional opponent was the Houston Rockets, over 900 miles from Miami. The team ultimately finished with a league-worst 15/67 win-loss record (second worst season in franchise history).
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