subject: Miami Heat Tickets : The Heat Signed James Former Teammate In Cleveland [print this page] 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.
On July 8, 2010, it became official that NBA superstars and gold medal winning Beijing Olympic teammates LeBron James, Dwayne 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 Chicago Bulls single season record of 72 regular season victories.
On the opening game of the season, broadcast on the TNT Network and featuring the debut of reigning two-time NBA MVP LeBron 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 surprising poor start at 9-8 due in large part to inconsistent play and the 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 27th, the team called a player's only meeting with the intent to get be truthful of each other regardless of ones feelings.
Much of the speculation in the wake of the poor start was that Erik Spoelstra could lose his job with Heat president Pat Riley making a return to the bench, especially after a well publicized "bump" LeBron James gave to Spoelsta after a timeout.
Since the player's only meeting when LeBron James reportedly told teammate Dwyane Wade that he was the worst finisher in the league because he cannot make a layup in crunch time, the team has pulled together a 12 game win streak and has limited the opposition under the century mark in all those games.
During the winning streak, LeBron James defeated 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.
