1996–97 Miami Heat season

The 1996–97 NBA season was the ninth season for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association. During the off-season, the Heat signed free agents, All-Star guard and three-point specialist Dan Majerle, P.J. Brown, and Isaac Austin. The team also signed All-Star forward Juwan Howard to a 7-year $100 million contract, but was voided by the league claiming that Miami exceeded their salary cap; Howard then quickly re-signed with the Washington Bullets. At mid-season, the team traded second-year guard Sasha Danilovic, and second-year forward Kurt Thomas to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Jamal Mashburn.

After a 5–4 start to the regular season, the Heat went on a nine-game winning streak, then won eleven straight games between January and February, held a 36–12 record at the All-Star break, and won eight straight in March, as they won their first Division title by finishing in first place in the Atlantic Division with a 61–21 record, which stood as the franchise mark until the 2012–13 season, and earned the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference; the team also posted the league's best road record at 32–9, while posting a 29–12 home record at the Miami Arena. Head coach Pat Riley was named the NBA Coach of the Year for the third time, after leading the Heat to a 19-game improvement over the previous season. The Heat had the best team defensive rating in the NBA.

Tim Hardaway led the Heat with 20.3 points, 8.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game, and also led them with 203 three-point field goals, and was named to the All-NBA First Team, while Alonzo Mourning averaged 19.8 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. In addition, second-year guard Voshon Lenard showed improvement becoming the team's starting shooting guard at mid-season, averaging 12.3 points per game and contributing 183 three-point field goals, while Majerle contributed 10.8 points per game, but only played just 36 games due to a back injury, and Brown provided the team with 9.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. Off the bench, Austin, who played as backup center, averaged 9.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, and was named the NBA Most Improved Player of the Year, and Keith Askins contributed 4.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

Hardaway and Mourning were both selected for the 1997 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland, Ohio, although Mourning did not play due to a foot injury, where he missed 16 games this season. Hardaway finished in fourth place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Mourning finished in twelfth place; Lenard finished in fourth place in Most Improved Player voting, while Hardaway finished tied in twelfth place, and Austin finished tied in seventh place in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 1997 NBA playoffs, the Heat won their first ever NBA playoff series by defeating their in-state rivals, the Orlando Magic in five games. In the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, they faced off against the New York Knicks, the previous team that Riley had served as head coach. Game 5 of that series featured a brawl, which involved Brown throwing Knicks guard Charlie Ward off the court, and with several Knicks players coming off the bench during the altercation, receiving automatic one-game suspensions while Brown was suspended for two games. Overtuning a 3–1 series deficit, the Heat managed to defeat the Knicks in seven games.

In their first appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat lost in five games to the defending champion Chicago Bulls. It was also the fifth playoff matchup between Riley and Bulls head coach Phil Jackson that decade, with the first three meetings from 1992 to 1994 when Riley coached the Knicks, and in last year's playoffs. The Bulls would go on to defeat the Utah Jazz in six games in the 1997 NBA Finals, winning their second consecutive NBA championship, and their fifth championship in seven years.