Miami Heat Information

What’s not to like about 2005-06 Miami Heat tickets? The Heat, after posting a 59-23 record, chose not to stand pat in the off-season and bolstered their roster with the addition of Antoine Walker from the Celtics and Jason Williams from the Memphis Grizzlies, making Heat fans lick their chops in anticipation of buying NBA Playoff tickets. The future is now in Miami, and the road to the NBA Championship may well run through American Airlines Arena.

After landing in Miami as an expansion franchise in 1988, the Heat proceeded to draft Syracuse star Rony Seikaly. The Heat took the usual course of new clubs in the NBA and lived through some lean years. Starting off 0-17, the Heat finally got their first victory in the NBA with an 89-88 victory over the Clippers on December 14th. Miami finished off that first season with a 15-67 record. The 1989-90 NBA Draft gave the Heat Michigan’s Glen Rice and another Syracuse product in Sherman Douglas. With a young team on the court, Miami struggled to an 18-64 record.

New head coach Kevin Loughery took over in 1991 and led Miami to the franchise’s first playoff berth. With a record of 38-44, the Heat scratched their way into the post-season with a 4th place finish in their division. Rice led the team with an impressive 22.3 points per game average and Miami delighted Heat ticket buyers with a 28-13 home record. Their first outing into the NBA Playoffs ended quickly though, as the Chicago Bulls ousted the Heat in 3 games, on their way to their second consecutive NBA Championship.

After playoff appearances in 1992, 1994, and 1996, Miami rewarded their fans with a trip to the Conference Finals in 1997. Featuring stars like Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, and P.J Brown, the Heat notched a division title with a 61-21 record. Miami knocked off the Orlando Magic in the first round of the NBA Playoffs in a 5-game series. The second round had head coach Pat Riley’s Heat matched up against his former team, the New York Knicks. It looked like the Knicks would cruise to an easy series win as they carried a 3-1 advantage into Game 5, but with the Heat leading late in the game, P.J Brown had an altercation with the Knicks’ Charlie Ward. In the ensuing brawl, the Knicks’ players lost their cool and came off the bench, earning automatic suspensions. The Heat went on to beat the depleted Knicks in a seven-game series. The Eastern Conference Finals was the end of the road for Miami’s NBA Championship hopes as they fell to the Chicago Bulls in 5 games.

Shaquille O’Neal’s arrival gave the Miami Heat a boost in 2004-05. O’Neal’s inside play helped guard Dwayne Wade establish himself as a rising star in the NBA. Wade finished the season with a 24.1 point per game average and led the surging Heat to the Conference Finals. Adding Walker and Williams to the mix makes the Miami Heat the team to beat in the NBA’s Southeastern Division. While Heat tickets were already hot, the off-season additions to the roster only fed the flames of enthusiasm burning in Miami.