Charter Bus to the Miami Heat Game

Located on the sunny side of South Beach, Florida, today’s NBA landscape sees the Heat as a genuine powerhouse in the Eastern Conference, and one of the few premier organizations in the entire league. 

To this date, the franchise has featured in six NBA Finals, and captured three NBA championships along the way in 2006, 2012 and 2013.

The Heat entered the NBA alongside the Charlotte Hornets in 1988 as an expansion team. 

In their inaugural season, Miami won just 15 games, but steadily improved on its record in each of the next three seasons, culminating in a play-off berth in 1991–92. 

The Heat were swept by the eventual-champion Chicago Bulls in the first round of the postseason, and their next appearance in the 1993-94 campaign saw them eliminated by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round.

In the hopes of continuing to build on their upward trajectory, the Heat brought in future Hall of Fame head coach Pat Riley. It proved pivotal, as in just his second season with Miami, Riley guided a team featuring All-Stars Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway to a surprising 61–21 record and a division title. 

The 1996–97 playoffs run saw the Heat advance the farthest they had done in their brief history, overcoming the Orlando Magic and the New York Knicks in the first two rounds, with the series against the Knicks notably including a notorious bench-clearing brawl in game five that marked the beginning of a fierce rivalry between the two franchises. The Heat’s play-off run in 1997 ended in the Eastern Conference finals, where the team lost to the eventual NBA champion Chicago Bulls led by superstar Michael Jordan.

Miami won three consecutive division titles beginning in the 1997–98 season. Unfortunately for them, they were eliminated by the Knicks in each of those respective postseasons, including a stunning upset in 1999, when Miami became the second team in NBA history to lose its first-round series as a conference’s top seed in the play-offs. 

The franchises’ six-year play-off streak ended in 2001–02, and after the team limped to a last-place divisional finish in 2002–03, Riley stepped down as head coach to focus on his duties in the Heat’s front office.

Their fall from grace was short-lived, however, as they drafted soon-to-be star Dwyane Wade out of Marquette in 2003. Upon his arrival, the Heat returned to the play-offs the next season. With the acquisition of center Shaquille O’Neal in 2004 from the Los Angeles Lakers, the Heat won 59 games and a division title in the 2004–05, continuing their upward surge by sweeping the New Jersey Nets and Washington Wizards in the play-offs, but ultimately falling to the champion Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals. 

Riley returned as head coach 22 games into the 2005–06 season, and Miami defeated the Pistons in a conference finals rematch before dispatching the Dallas Mavericks in six games to win the first championship in franchise history. 

From 2006, Wade was a genuine superstar in the association, leading the Heat to a number of winning seasons following their title triumph. Surprisingly, they did not advance past the first round of the play-offs in any of those years, but their fortunes quickly turned in the summer of 2010, when Wade was joined by fellow superstar LeBron James and All-Star power forward Chris Bosh to form a formidable “Big 3”. 

Understandably, the star-studded Heat were the centerpiece of media attention during the trios first campaign together in 2010–11. 

After an uneven start to the regular season, the team charged through the play-offs, losing a total of just three games en route to the NBA finals, where Miami lost its rematch with the Dallas Mavericks in a shock to the NBA world. 

In 2011–12 the Heat’s redemption season saw them return to the NBA finals, convincingly defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder featuring Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden in five games. 

The following season, the team registered the second-longest winning streak in NBA history with 27 straight victories, and won a franchise-record 66 games en route to a third straight NBA finals appearance. The Heat went on to become back-to-back champions, defeating the San Antonio Spurs in a dramatic seven-game series that included a game saving corner three pointer from Ray Allen in Game 6. 

The Heat won a fourth straight division title in 2013–14, which was followed by another quick run through the conference play-offs to set up a rematch with the Spurs in the NBA finals. In doing so, the Heat became the first team in 27 years to make four consecutive finals appearances. Carrying the heavy physical and emotional burden of their previous Finals runs, the Heat were outplayed by familiar foe San Antonio Spurs in five games. 

All three of the team’s big stars opted out of their contracts during the following off-season to reassess their options and give the franchise (which was projected to be well over the league’s salary cap) more financial flexibility. 

Wade and Bosh both re-signed with Miami, but James left the team to return home to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Heat failed to qualify for the play-offs in a weak Eastern Conference in 2014–15 without James. 

The Heat bounced back the following season, winning 48 games and earning a play-off bid, where the team was eliminated in the second round.

The Heat then steadily made the postseason in the years that followed, but there was a clear transition period as Bosh’s career was cut short due to blood clots, and long-time guard Wade was on the backend of his prime. 

Wade would eventually retire at the end of the 2018-2019 season, coinciding with the arrival of swingman Jimmy Butler in free agency to take his place that summer. 

Butler’s presence inside the locker room and on the hardwood has since breathed new life into the organization. The front office has also done an excellent job in acquiring talent in the draft each season, and alongside Butler, the emergence of multi skilled forward Bam Adebayo and sharpshooters Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro have transcended the Heat into one of the more talented teams in the league once again. 

Behind the leadership of Butler in an interrupted 2020 campaign, the Heat made an unlikely run to the NBA finals inside Disneyland’s Orlando bubble. They eventually succumbed to the supremely talented Los Angeles Lakers led by former employee LeBron James, but the Heat put the world on notice that they will continue to compete for championships in the years to come.

When you get your tickets to the game, don’t forget to give us a call to arrange your transportation. We have facilities in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach and with our diverse fleet we can bring one to one hundred fans to Keseya Arena.