On This Date in Sports December 14, 1988: The Heat is Finally On
After 17 straight losses to start the season, the expansion Miami Heat finally won their first game, beating the Los Angeles Clippers 89-88 on the road. The Heat had to sweat the game out to the last second, as they nearly blew a 12-point lead as Ken Norman’s potential game-winner banged off the rim. Miami would finish their inaugural season with a record of 15-67.
The NBA had finally come to the Sunshine State, as the Miami Heat joined the NBA as part of a four-team expansion over two seasons. The only other top-level basketball team that had played in Florida was the Miami Floridians, who played in the ABA for four years. The Heat joined the league with the Charlotte Hornets in 1988, while the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves came aboard a year later. The expansion Heat were coached by Ron Rothstein, who had previously worked as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons. The roster was full of unknown players as they focused on building through the draft, with Rony Seikaly, the ninth overall pick out of Syracuse, and Kevin Edwards of DePaul picked with the 20th pick.
Playing in the Western Conference, the Miami Heat set a record for most miles traveled, as the NBA had to figure out where to slot the new teams in. The Heat played their first game on November 5th against the Los Angeles Clippers, losing 111-91 at Miami Arena, an arena later nicknamed the “Pink Elephant” for its costs and exterior color. Three nights later, they suffered a 92-88 loss against the Dallas Mavericks in their first road game. Few of Miami’s early losses were close, as they dropped to 0-7 with a 123-117 overtime loss to the Golden State Warriors on November 8th. Five nights later, on the eve of Thanksgiving, they were throttled by Pat Riley’s Los Angeles Lakers 138-91. On November 29th, the Heat dropped to 0-11 with a 99-84 loss to the Hornets, their brothers in expansion. A night later, they made it 0-for-November, falling to the San Antonio Spurs at home 105-101.
As December began, the Miami Heat were becoming late-night punchlines, as the frustration continued to mount, despite the games getting closer as they fell to 0-14 with a 96-94 loss to the Sacramento Kings on December 7th. Two nights later, the Heat equaled the worst start to a season in NBA history, losing at home to the Denver Nuggets 121-110. An unrelated Denver Nuggets team had previously done the record of 0-15 in the 1949/50 season, their lone NBA season, the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first year in the 1970/71 seasons, and the 1972/73 Philadelphia 76ers, who were the worst team in NBA history at 9-73. The Heat would get the record to themselves on December 10th with a 111-88 loss to the Chicago Bulls at the start of a four-game road trip. Following a 110-94 loss to the Utah Jazz on December 12th, the Heat sat at 0-17, wondering when or if they would get their first win.
At the Los Angeles Sports Arena, the Miami Heat would face the Los Angeles Clippers, who beat them in their first game five weeks earlier. The Clippers had started the season 7-13 under Coach Gene Shue. The Heat were competitive in the first quarter, trailing 25-23 at the end of the game’s first 12 minutes. Miami would surge in front in the second quarter, outscoring the Clippers 30-19, to hold a 53-44 lead at the break. Miami continued to control things in the third quarter, outscoring Los Angeles 19-18 as they had a 12-point lead early in the fourth quarter. However, the Clippers began to make a run, cutting the lead to one-point at 84-83 with 2:23 left. The Heat, though, would not relinquish the lead, despite the Clippers having one more chance to break their hearts as Ken Norman missed a mid-range jumper that bounced off the rim as time expired, allowing Miami to exhale and celebrate an 89-88 win finally. The win was a complete total effort for the Heat as Grant Long, Pat Cummings, and Billy Thompson all had a team-high 15 points, with John Sundvold adding 14. Long also had a team-best eight boards, while Rory Sparrow had nine assists. Meanwhile, the Clippers were led by rookie Danny Manning, who had a game-high 23 points.
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The wins did not accumulate for the Heat that first season, as they had the worst record in the league at 15-67 as rookie Kevin Edwards averaged 13.8 points per game to lead the team in scoring. The 0-17 record would be topped two decades later by the New Jersey Nets, who started the year 0-18 as a lame duck on the way to Brooklyn in the 2009/10 season. The Philadelphia 76ers would also go 0-17 in the 2014/15 season, matching Miami’s futility as they asked fans to trust the process.