History of the Miami Heat Pt. 13 (1997-98 Season)

FIRST UPLOAD IN 19 MONTHS. The widely requested 13th part of the History of the Miami Heat.

The Heat, having just been eliminated by the Chicago Bulls in the 1997 Eastern Conference Finals, were coming off their greatest season yet. During the offseason, the team's focus shifted to building a new, better arena to replace Miami Arena. After overcoming political opposition, the organization celebrated as AmericanAirlines Arena broke ground on January 27, 1998.

The Heat had another great regular season in 1997-98, ultimately finishing 55-27. Not much had changed from a year earlier heading into the 1998 Playoffs. Once again, the Heat were Atlantic Division Champions. Once again, they were the #2 seed in the East, with the Chicago Bulls once again holding the #1 seed. And the New York Knicks were the #7 seed, which meant that that the Heat would once again do battle with their fiercest rival from the year before. Only this time, it would be in the first round; a best of five series.

Even without Patrick Ewing, the Knicks were extremely competitive. The two teams seemed evenly matched, Miami taking Games 1 and 3 and New York taking Games 2 and 4. The most memorable moment of the series came at the conclusion of Game 4 when for the second year in a row, a fight erupted, this time between Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson. This is the fight in which Jeff Van Gundy infamously grabbed onto Alonzo Mourning's leg. More importantly, it resulted in Mourning being suspended for the deciding game of the series. Many Heat fans felt that Johnson, knowing the Knicks had already won Game 4, deliberately provoked Mourning with only a second left on the clock so that he would be suspended for the series-deciding game, in an attempt to not only give the Knicks extra leverage, but to avenge the suspensions from the previous year. It worked, as the Heat were no match for the Knicks in Game 5 without their all-star captain and defensive centerpiece. New York took the series 3-2, pulling off a first round upset.

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[MissDeeCole]

what is this from?

[MrKing8050]

Pj Browns and Charlies Ward brawl was better

[kazam92]

It's true what they said, Zo and Johnson both hit nothing but air that whole time.