The 1996-97 season seems like buried treasure now for Heat fans. It was fifteen years ago but the memory of that special team has not faded. It was the year of the Road Warriors and was the first time Miami ever had a championship contending team and South Florida got a taste of what NBA Playoff drama is all about.
To reset your Heat clocks, this was Pat Rileys second season as Miamis President and Head Coach. It was the first full season together for Heat legends, Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway and they were both in the prime of their careers. Hardaway had his best Miami season and became the first Heat player to be named to the All NBA First Team. Mourning was mauling teams with his defense and his tenacity. He averaged 20 points, 10 rebounds and nearly 3 blocked shots a game.
Those two All-Stars were joined in the starting lineup by Jamal Mashburn, P.J. Brown and Voshon Lenard. The top three reserves were Dan Majerle, Ike Austin and Keith Askins. Austin was named the NBAs Most Improved Player Award that year. Ike and Rony Seikaly (89-90) are the only two Heat players to have ever received this award.
They won 61 regular season games, 32 of them on the road and both marks still stand as franchise records. It was the first of 8 Division tittles won by the Heat and the first of four consecutive Atlantic Division crowns. The 61 wins were even more impressive when you remember and consider that Mourning missed 16 games with a foot injury.
This would be the Heats fourth appearance in the Playoffs still seeking their first playoff series victory. When April rolled around and the post season began with a best of five, first round series against Orlando, it would mark the first time that Miami would enjoy home court advantage and endure the pressure of being the team expected to win.
The series was the first and only time the Heat and Magic have ever faced each other in the playoffs. They had split the four regular season games they played that season but this series would wind up testing both teams to the max, although, it didnt start out that way.
The Heat cruised to victory, at Miami Arena, in Games 1 and 2 by 35 and 17 points. It looked like a sweep when the Heat had another big lead halfway through Game 3 in Orlando. Then as playoff series often do, it turned almost instantly and went the other way. Ironically, this series turned when Rony Seiklay, who was then Orlandos starting center, sprained an ankle late in the second quarter of Game 3. Magic Coach, Richie Adubato, went small with his lineup and the results were big and scary.
Darrell Armstrong energized the Magic with his quickness and defense on Tim Hardaway. Meanwhile, Penny Hardaway suddenly stepped forward and lifted the Magic with three of the very best games of his career all in a row. He scored 42 points in Game 3, an 88-75 Orlando win. /He got 41 more in Game 4 in Orlando and instead of Miami clinching the series, the Magic evened it, 99-91.
Following the Game 4 loss I remember going into the Heat locker room in Orlando. There was fear and concern in the air. All that had been accomplished, the 61 wins, the division crown, the expectations of advancing were all at risk if the Heat did not win Game 5 back home in Miami.
And win they did, despite another 33 point outburst from Penny. Four of Miamis five starters played forty plus minutes in the Game 5 clincher. Five Heat players scored in double figures and three had double-doubles in the 91-83 win that sealed one of the most riveting first round series in Heat history. This Heat Classic advanced Miami for the very first time in the playoffs and put Miami in the second round against New York. It would be the first of four straight years the Heat and Knicks would collide in the playoffs (97-2000) creating one of the great playoff rivalries in NBA history. That may never have happened if Miami did not get past Orlando.
The 1996-97 Road Warriors wound up beating New York in an amazing seven game series and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history (Lost to Chicago in 5 games). The 1996-97 Heat were a team, this was a season and that Game Five against Orlando was a game that should not be forgotten.