1999–2000 Miami Heat season

The 1999–2000 Miami Heat season was the 12th season for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association.

Season summary

Off-season During the off-season, the team signed free agents Otis Thorpe, and undrafted rookie point guard Anthony Carter.

For the season, the Heat updated their primary logo, changing the flaming basketball from light red to dark red with black seams and golden yellow flames, and changing the hoop from black to white with a black outline. The team also redesigned their home and road uniforms, adding a V-shaped collar, dark red trim, and dark red side panels to their jerseys and shorts, and the team's primary logo to the right leg of their shorts. The white home uniforms featured a black outline next to the side panels, along with golden yellow and silver inlines, while the black road uniforms featured a golden yellow outline and white and silver inlines.

The team's new uniforms would remain in use until 2009, where they would move their primary logo to the left leg of their shorts; the new primary logo is still present as of 2026.

Regular season The Heat played the first two months of the regular season at the Miami Arena, and played their final home game there on December 28, 1999, against the Minnesota Timberwolves; the team then moved into their new arena, the American Airlines Arena on January 2, 2000, and played their first game there against the Orlando Magic.

The Heat got off to a 15–4 start to the regular season, and later on held a 30–17 record at the All-Star break. However, Tim Hardaway only played 52 games due to knee injuries, and Voshon Lenard was out for the remainder of the season due to a lower abdominal strain after 53 games. At mid-season, the team signed free agent Bruce Bowen, who was previously released by the Chicago Bulls, who acquired him from the Philadelphia 76ers in a three-team trade. The Heat posted a seven-game winning streak between March and April, and finished in first place in the Atlantic Division with a 52–30 record, earning the second seed in the Eastern Conference; the team qualified for the NBA playoffs for the fifth consecutive year.

Alonzo Mourning averaged 21.7 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game, and was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive year; he was also named to the All-NBA Second Team, and to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. In addition, Jamal Mashburn averaged 17.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game, and led the Heat with 112 three-point field goals, while Hardaway provided the team with 13.4 points and 7.4 assists per game, Lenard contributed 11.9 points per game off the bench as the team's sixth man, and P.J. Brown provided with 9.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, three-point specialist Dan Majerle contributed 7.3 points and 1.3 steals per game, along with 110 three-point field goals, while Clarence Weatherspoon averaged 7.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game off the bench, and Carter provided with 6.3 points, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at The Arena in Oakland in Oakland, California, Mourning was selected for the 2000 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference All-Star team. Mourning also finished in third place in Most Valuable Player voting, behind Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Kevin Garnett of the Timberwolves, while head coach Pat Riley finished tied in fifth place in Coach of the Year voting.

The Heat finished 13th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 706,725 at the American Airlines Arena during the regular season.

NBA playoffs In the Eastern Conference First Round of the 2000 NBA playoffs, the Heat faced off against the 7th–seeded Detroit Pistons, a team that featured All-Star forward Grant Hill, All-Star guard Jerry Stackhouse, and Lindsey Hunter. Despite the absence of Hardaway due to his knee injury, the Heat won the first two games over the Pistons at home at the American Airlines Arena. In Game 2, Hill re-injured his ankle sustained from the final month of the regular season, as the Heat defeated the Pistons, 84–82 to take a 2–0 series lead. With Hill out for Game 3, the Heat defeated the Pistons on the road, 91–72 at The Palace of Auburn Hills to win the series in a three-game sweep.

In the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, and for the fourth consecutive year, the team faced off against the 3rd–seeded New York Knicks, who were led by All-Star guard Allan Houston, Latrell Sprewell and Patrick Ewing. With the return of Hardaway, and with the series tied at 2–2, the Heat won Game 5 over the Knicks at home, 87–81 at the American Airlines Arena to take a 3–2 series lead. However, the Heat lost Game 6 to the Knicks on the road, 72–70 at Madison Square Garden, and then lost Game 7 at the American Airlines Arena, 83–82, thus losing in a hard-fought seven-game series.

Aftermath Following the season, Mashburn, Brown and Thorpe were all traded to the Charlotte Hornets, while Lenard and Mark Strickland were both traded to the Denver Nuggets, and Weatherspoon was dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team trade.

Offseason

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team 1 25 Tim James SF University of Miami 2 53 Rodney Buford SG Creighton University

Roster

Regular season

Standings

z - clinched division title y - clinched division title x - clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

| 1 | May 7 | New York | W 87–83 | Alonzo Mourning (26) | P. J. Brown (16) | Tim Hardaway (7) | American Airlines Arena20,053 | 1–0 |- | 2 | May 9 | New York | L 76–82 | Jamal Mashburn (25) | Alonzo Mourning (17) | three players tied (3) | American Airlines Arena20,078 | 1–1 |- | 3 | May 12 | @ New York | W 77–76 (OT) | Alonzo Mourning (23) | P. J. Brown (12) | Anthony Carter (8) | Madison Square Garden19,763 | 2–1 |- | 4 | May 14 | @ New York | L 83–91 | Alonzo Mourning (27) | Alonzo Mourning (14) | Anthony Carter (7) | Madison Square Garden19,763 | 2–2 |- | 5 | May 17 | New York | W 87–81 | Jamal Mashburn (21) | P. J. Brown (12) | Anthony Carter (5) | American Airlines Arena20,021 | 3–2 |- | 6 | May 19 | @ New York | L 70–72 | Alonzo Mourning (22) | Majerle, Mourning (10) | Dan Majerle (7) | Madison Square Garden19,763 | 3–3 |- | 7 | May 21 | New York | L 82–83 | Alonzo Mourning (29) | Alonzo Mourning (13) | Tim Hardaway (7) | American Airlines Arena20,063 | 3–4

Player statistics

Ragular season PlayerPF80 80 2,302 600 145 65 61 764 28.8 7.5 1.8 .8 .8 9.6C 79 78 2,748 753 123 40 294 1,718 34.8 9.5 1.6 .5 3.7 21.7PG 79 30 1,859 199 378 93 5 498 23.5 2.5 4.8 1.2 .1 6.3PF 78 2 1,615 449 93 51 49 565 20.7 5.8 1.2 .7 .6 7.2SF 76 76 2,828 381 298 79 14 1,328 37.2 5.0 3.9 1.0 .2 17.5SG 69 69 2,308 333 206 89 17 506 33.4 4.8 3.0 1.3 .2 7.3SF 58 5 663 140 22 15 18 284 11.4 2.4 .4 .3 .3 4.9SG 53 13 1,434 153 136 41 15 629 27.1 2.9 2.6 .8 .3 11.9PG 52 52 1,672 150 385 49 4 696 32.2 2.9 7.4 .9 .1 13.4PF 51 1 777 166 33 26 9 279 15.2 3.3 .6 .5 .2 5.5SG 34 0 386 48 21 10 8 147 11.4 1.4 .6 .3 .2 4.3PG 33 0 389 36 65 6 0 93 11.8 1.1 2.0 .2 .0 2.8†SF 27 2 567 60 18 14 10 137 21.0 2.2 .7 .5 .4 5.1C 25 2 185 47 2 2 16 66 7.4 1.9 .1 .1 .6 2.6PF 12 0 74 21 4 2 1 18 6.2 1.8 .3 .2 .1 1.5SF 4 0 23 4 2 0 3 11 5.8 1.0 .5 .0 .8 2.8

Playoffs PlayerSF10 10 423 46 32 11 2 175 42.3 4.6 3.2 1.1 .2 17.5C10 10 376 100 14 2 33 216 37.6 10.0 1.4 .2 3.3 21.6SG10 10 372 70 32 21 1 90 37.2 7.0 3.2 2.1 .1 9.0PF10 10 308 82 11 8 4 75 30.8 8.2 1.1 .8 .4 7.5PG10 3 275 40 56 12 2 77 27.5 4.0 5.6 1.2 .2 7.7PF10 0 170 41 1 4 3 64 17.0 4.1 .1 .4 .3 6.4SF10 0 157 10 8 7 4 35 15.7 1.0 .8 .7 .4 3.5PF10 0 136 29 3 0 2 33 13.6 2.9 .3 .0 .2 3.3PG 7 7 182 15 33 5 0 54 26.0 2.1 4.7 .7 .0 7.7SG 1 0 16 1 1 0 0 11 16.0 1.0 1.0 .0 .0 11.0SF 1 0 10 0 0 2 0 2 10.0 .0 .0 2.0 .0 2.0

Awards and honors Alonzo Mourning, NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award Alonzo Mourning, All-NBA Second Team Alonzo Mourning, NBA All-Defensive First Team

References

1999–2000 Miami Heat season

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