Most heartbreaking losses in Miami Heat history | Five on the Floor

Most heartbreaking losses in Miami Heat history | Five on the Floor

Welcome to the latest episode of Five on the Floor, the Five Reason Sports Network. Thanks for joining us on your favorite podcast app on Apple, Apple Podcast, on Android, Spotify, or the Five Reasons YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe to Off the Floor. Why? Well, there it is. Well, there are a million reasons for it, but one of the reasons is we’re taking episodes directly from our Off the Floor feed and we’re giving prize pick promo funds to those who give us the episodes that we choose. So, extra bonus there. $2.99 per month, access to 10 different channels and our stage shows, including channels for transactions, trans channels for trades, excuse me, for uh the draft, uh channels for the WNBA. We have everything on there. So, check it out. It’s off the floor link right there in the description. We have a dedicated link now. So, it should be really easy. You just go on, you click, you pay, and you get access to everything else. Also, as I mentioned, check out prize pick. Use the code 5 f. Put down your five, get your 50. That’s the deal. legal in the state of Florida. Play across the sports spectrum. NBA, WNBA, NFL when it comes back. MLB, NHL, it’s all there. Go to prize.com. Use the code F I V. And now today’s [Music] episode heat nation. Yeah. Mercy down the [ __ ] Five on the floor. Ride for my dogs. Where’s the thing? You can check the score. Hustle hard. Couple stars bubble frog. Got it all. Y’all seen the block stop one hand and paps. We’re here to bring the heat. Y’all can hang it up. Welcome to five on the floor. a daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA featuring Ethan Skolnick, Greg Sander, Alex Toledo, Brady Hawk, and others from the Five Reason Sports Network. Also, make sure to subscribe to Off the Floor for the most heat anywhere. Hi, welcome back to Five on the floor. Here’s today’s floor plan. I’m Ethan Skolnick. You can follow me at Ethan Joln Sports. We got Greg Savander. You can follow him at Greg Savander. We’ve been following what’s been going on, not just in the NBA, but around the sports world right now. I apologize for my tweet last night in which after watching the Panthers score five goals in nine minutes in the Eastern Conference Finals, which they lead three nothing, I said that there were nine-minute stretches in which the Heat did not score five points. Um, I probably overestimated that. There were nine-minute stretches, Greg, where they didn’t score any points. Very true. And by the way, it’s not just them. did plenty of divided stretches where the Dolphins didn’t score any points also, especially when Tua wasn’t quarterbacky. Uh, but the Panthers are a juggernaut right now and maybe the best team in professional sports. And so, we’re going to talk about them a little bit uh this off season. Um, historically, can they catch the big three heat terms of what they accomplished here? And and also like I mean the Heat have always been the model franchise down here. Uh, but the Panthers have borrowed from them and in some ways perfected it. And so we’ll talk about that on another episode, but today we’re going to talk about something more depressing. Um although it’s not so depressing because it involves the Knicks. So we might have gotten to this a couple days ago, so we’re a couple days late, but it’s there’s still time to do this. Uh the Knicks had one of the worst losses I’ve ever seen, except Greg, I didn’t see it because I passed out with the Knicks up 15. Um it was beautiful. Oh, it was beautiful. So you saw the whole thing, right? Now, we’re going back to game one, not game two. As we speak right now, we’re going to do some prize picks for it. We’re awaiting game three, which the series goes back to Indiana. I’m telling you, if there’s any NBA fan who can say that the Pacers would be up 200 in the Eastern Conference Finals and now going home, there is no NBA fan who has said that. There’s no one. There’s no one in this country in the world after doing that against the one seed Cleveland. Ethan, they’re doing it twice in a row. Two series consecutively on the road in the first two games, winning and going home without paying luxury tax, by the way. They’re not in the top 15 in salary and without a a without a top 10 player. I mean, Hallebert’s not a top 10 player. He’s really good. I don’t I don’t think most people would put him in the top 10. Seakum’s not either. Uh they built out of the middle. Um it’s it’s remarkable and I will tell you the Heat have enormous respect for what they’ve done. They really they do. You talk to people in the heat organization, they’re like, you know, they win this thing, give them their props. Um now, of course, nobody at ESPN will even know what happened. Um but that’s a whole that’s a whole another issue. And by the way, the ratings uh the ratings as they’re going to dip because they’ve been up for the Knicks and Pacers because the Knicks, but if they dip for Pacers, OKC, that’s not the fault of the players. That’s the fault of the me the national media coverage that it’s their fault. And by the way, I I know for a fact that the NBA is tired of the way ESPN covers their team, but they haven’t been able to to get them to change it. Anyway, the reason we’re talking about this at all, and you said it was beautiful, uh, is because after Aaron Nith, who by the way was a Celtics reject, first round pick, that they ended up they they ended up getting him and a pick for Malcolm Brogden from the Celtics. They thought they were helping the Celtics, right? We all did. And then he he hit three six threes and of course Hallebertton hit that shot that went up and down and did the choke thing. But it did get us thinking because the Heat have some history with this sort of thing. And I I’m not even going to include any of the losses this year where they were up by 20 plus. Okay, because I mean this team this year’s team, who cares? I but I pulled this because I was trying to think of what’s the worst loss in Heat history. Okay. And our audience, Greg, we’re going to give some of the the options here and then we’ll talk about it. But our audience is so young on Twitter that they didn’t pick the right one, but we we’ll we’ll go through it. And I I understand why they didn’t pick the right one. Um but let’s go back to the very beginning and let’s just talk about some of their worst losses. There there were two, Greg, that stick out during the Riley. Anyway, who cares about pre Riley also, by the way? Okay. Yeah, because they lost by 68 points pre Riley. Just so that we get that on record for the if we’re going to do the worst losses ever. They lost by 68 points to the Cavs in 9192. But no one remembers any of that. No, no, not even me. How was I? I was 18. Um if I was worried about that at that pro at that point, there’s a problem. All right. So that so we’re going to eliminate anything pre- Riley, but the two worst losses in the Riley era uh as the Zo Tim era I think are pretty clear. There’s then one was in one arena, right? And one was in the other. So it was right. Okay. So the Allen Houston shot and then the Mashburn nonshot, right? Those were the those does anything compare during It would have to be those two, right? Yeah. I mean, there were individual performances where you felt like you um you know had your guts ripped out all over the floor that we could probably find if we sifted through game over game. But to your point, if we’re just going to think about top level, those games that you’ll never forget, those are the two from that era specifically. All right. Now, the reason that those two hurt the most, other than the fact that that Heat team kept running into the Knicks, kept except for the first year where you had to have the the fight and Van Gundy’s leg and all the rest of the stuff, except for the first year, you know, they lost all of them, okay? And we’ll never see series like that again. Okay? Like I say, we’ll never see something like the big three again. We’ll never see a series. And the reason is a all the drama between the two teams, the the the Spreewell Hardaway relationship which had broken down Golden State, the LJ Zo relationship which had broken down, Riley and Jeff Van Gundy coaching against each other, Patrick going against his best friend in Zo. Um all all of the things that were that played into those series. But the other thing is all four series went the maximum games. All of them. Like I think it was five game series for one of them, but then the other three were seven game series. So they played the maximum number of games. Every possession was seriously like pulling teeth. Like it was not fun basketball to watch. Okay. And I was sitting press row for all of it. All right. So I I saw all of it. I was right there in Madison Square Garden and we used to sit instead of up in the third level in the corner. We literally sat at MSG behind the basket on the floor. And so PJ Brown threw threw Charlie Ward right in front of me. Okay. And which was the weirdest thing ever because those are two of the nicest people you ever meet. I have some issues with some of the stuff that Charlie Ward believes in. But PJ was literally the nicest person among my top five athletes I’ve ever covered. And he just lost it and tossed Charlie Ward because he thought he was going at his knees and that was right in front of me. Anthony Carter shot over the backboard. Okay. Right in front of me. Okay. You did toss Charlie Ward in Miami, just to clarify at least. Oh, Miami. I’m sorry. You’re right. But I was also on the floor for that one. That’s right. But thank you. But the the AC shot, thank you. Was right in front of me at at MSG. The one that went over the backboard. Okay. So, these series went the distance every time. Tremendous drama. Again, like drawing blood, okay, to score. Um, and they tested them emotionally to the point that when they lost one of the series, I think it was the the one Mashford didn’t take the shot. Pat had Zo had to tell Pat and of course Levitzard chronicled this. Get get the f up and go talk to your team. Okay, that’s why it won’t happen again. Also, because no team will stick with a head coach, uh, losing to a lower seed without home court that many years in a row without firing them. I don’t think that there’s any uh Oregon in the league that will stick with a head coach that long. Maybe Miami would with Spo, but that’s it. That’s it, right? It’s the same team. Okay. Uh but let’s compare these two to see which we could eliminate because we’re going to say these were the two worst losses. The reason that the Allen Houston one I think sticks out more e even though the other one was really bad is because a it was so sudden and also remember these were two years that Jordan was not with the Bulls. Okay, so there was an opportunity and the way that 99 set up this was a lockout shortened season and the way that 99 and so that’s why the Heat were only six games better than the Knicks in the regular season even though it was a 18. I mean, they were virtually the same team. And there was the other part of this that the Knicks uh the Knicks didn’t really put it together during the regular season. They didn’t have time. They were be they had injuries. They were better than their record showed. So, it was like not an eight team that you wanted to draw. But the Allen Houston shot was sudden. It just happened bang bang bang bang bang like that. But the other thing is if the Heat had won that series, I firmly believe they would have won the championship. I I do because that Spurs team that came out on the other side was not the best of the Spurs teams. Whereas 2000 I think they probably would have lost anyway. Uh even if they had kind of gotten through there probably. But the the other the thing about 2000 is the debate on that one. There were a couple things that happened. One was Nick Beavetta. Um, he got that nickname because Tim, well, Mike Weise and I basically gave it to Tim Hardaway before the game and then Tim came out with a prepared speech after the game to say we got screwed by Nick Beaveta. That was of course Dick Bevetta, the longtime official. There were a couple of calls down the stretch of that. But also, and this is a debate Sado and I have had forever and the entire Heatfront office has taken his side and I know you do, too. That Mashford had the ball. He seemed to have a look, but not a totally clean look. He passed it to Clarence Weatherspoon and Spoon missed. I would have preferred Mashurn take the shot. Okay, you’re with everybody else. I’m a loner on this one. Which of those two is the worst loss of that era? Uh, it’s tough cuz when the Allen Houston shot happened, I sat in my seat until the entire arena cleared out and just sat there, watched everyone foul out. And that was a really rough one because to your point I felt that felt like the team that was about to make a run. But I can make that case for the other team as well. Like I I the I I against all odds I’m actually going to go with the the Weatherspoon Mashburn loss because when that happened in the moment and I was in the building for that one as well. You knew that that team was going to was never coming back again. And so like it was there was a finality to that where you were like, “Okay, so that’s the end of that era.” Um, and I don’t think I think that that just added to the, you know, we talk about adding insult to injury. It was like, yeah, they beat us again on our home floor. It was by like one point. I remember Spreewell got the ball and threw it up in the air and and kind of the clock ran out and it was over. Um, that that’s the one because you knew that that team wasn’t coming back. So, I’m going to lean in that direction. Even though I think like if you ask the the the majority of Heat fans, if you pulled the whole arena, the Allen Houston shot is what people remember feeling worse because it’s just a moment in time. It’s a buzzer beater and uh it was an eight seed against a one. Yeah, I’m still going with the Houston shot, but I get I get why you’re saying that. Uh by the way, the Heat knew it was over. Um, several people have told me that as soon as that game was over, they’re like, “We got to break this up.” The part is though, they they did break it up successfully. They actually made the team, in my view, better. Yep. Even though they went after McGrady and Hill didn’t get either of them, but they ended up getting Eddie with a healthy Zo. I thought that team could win the championship. The Brian Grant, Mason, EJ, Timmy team. I thought that they reloaded masterfully. and Bruce Bowen like that that that they had a they had a squad but that we never got to really see it because Zo missed 69 games because of the kidney disease and then came back they went eight and five and then they got blown out by Charlotte May Scott May rest in peace you know got in his head and and it was just it was a mess. Uh but I I’m still going to stick with Alan Houston but I I see I see your point on it. Um I was there covering both. So I wrote about both. if you were in the building. So, this is not this is not a pain that that Brady or Alex could relate to. That’s why you’re on this episode with me. All right. On the other side of this, though, on the other side of this, uh we’ll we’ll talk about more current ones and if any of them can pass it because most of our fans think they can, even though I I I don’t agree. I think it’s one of those two losses. But anyway, uh Cousins CousinsUSA, you can find them at cousinsusa.comrsn. These are family movers, Fort Lauderdale movers, where they service the entire area down here. Really good people. You should check them out on Instagram at all as well at cousinsusa. And if you go to cousinsusa.comrsn, not only uh do you get all their other promotions, but you’re also going to get some free wardrobe boxes. You don’t want to have to pack those things yourself. And they’ll they can help you with that. Um they’re going to give you everything so that your move is it’s easy. No fuss, no frrills. They don’t they’re not going to overcharge you for stuff. And again, just really good people. Everybody I’ve dealt with over there has been terrific. 8883006683. That’s 8883006683 or just go to cousins, excuse me, cousinsa.comrsn. All right. So, um, the the one the one loss that jumps out the most in the Shaq era, it’s the Wade era, but it’s the Wade era where we had Shaq Pistons game seven. Ugh. Right. Right. Right. I mean, that’s the easy one, right? I don’t I don’t think there’s any other question, right? Yeah. And to our listeners, just for a little bit of behindthe-scenes content, I want everyone to know that I believe this could be one of the uh first episodes that Ethan Skolnick is not only hosting, but also producing the episode as we go. So, I want our our listeners to know that he is uh stepping up his game as we go. No, I’ve done this before. No, no, no. It’s just not with you. I just when when you’re here, Alex is here. I have you do it. But I You think I’m letting You think I’m letting a turtle or Well, I might let Adele. You think I’m letting a turtle do this? I can’t get him to even be on time or speak into the mic. It’s new to me. You’re It’s adding new skills to tools to the toolkit. Well, I still haven’t learned how to clean or cook or anything, so that’s okay. But yes. All right. So, so we’re going to here here’s the circumstances for 05. Okay. I thought they had that series under control. um that they they Shaq was great that year. This was not the Shaq of05 06. Um Dame Damon Jones had had given them the spacing they needed, you know, journeyman and all that. They decided to move on from after the year and Eddie had played pretty well as the third guy for most of the season. They’re they’re up 3-2. Dwayne pulls the rib cage muscle. Okay, that Detroit team was a B. It was that team was tough to play against. He didn’t play in game six and you knew you weren’t getting that game. You No. And by the way, on the other side on the West that was also not a great Spurs team. They they had better teams during that. So there was an opportunity there. They’re up 3-2. I remember going to Detroit or Auburn Hills and uh knowing they had no chance. Like they went in that game six without Dwayne. We found out he wasn’t going to play. And I hate to say it because I was always an Eddie defender, but everybody told me just like I was always a Mash defender. This is why I’m very careful about defending guys like Wiggins now because he reminds me of them in some ways. Okay. Uh that I was like Eddie will step up and everybody told me no, he won’t. And they were he was awful and they were awful in game six. Just just totally hopeless. So they come back to Miami. They got a game seven on their home floor and it was clear from the beginning Dwayne was not right. Okay. Now Stan was the coach and but in the fourth quarter I think Dwayne took between eight and 10 shots. He they kept going to Dwayne over and over and and this is the best anecdote I can tell you about this. Not at the game itself but after that summer about a month later this is when I knew Stan was cooked. Okay. that summer, about a month later, I was doing a freelance story for USA Today about uh players who help in the community. And so it was a photo shoot, a one-time thing with Shaq and work done at the Delano, okay, on South Beach. So the whole thing was I spent the day with the two of them. So other than Shaq speaking 25 languages so he could speak to every model that came by. Uh I was up I was up with him while he was changing getting ready. Uh you know and everything and all he did the entire day [ __ ] Stan Van Gandhi [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] giving the ball to Dwayne whole fourth quarter. I’m like okay he’s done. That’s it. Stan’s done. He started the next season. We all know variety of things happened and uh a lot of them were ashame and all the rest and I you know everybody knows my feelings about Stan. I love Stan. But it was that okay at that point it was that was over. He just kept going to Dwayne over and over and over and over and they just Dwayne just did not have anything. Greg and Eddie wasn’t he didn’t step up again. It was a game seven um at home. I was in the building for that one as well. See you’re the problem. Right. I I’ve been at and wait till we get to the even uh the ones even uh in you know the more recent uh uh past. But that was it was tough. But in retrospect like it’s not as heartbreaking as as uh as maybe the the Knicks ones that we’ve previously referenced. And I only say that because of the benefit of hindsight and the fact that I know that they made the trades that they made, which I know you didn’t think they improved and that that’s fine. They got a title out of it. So So that that’s where it kind of lessens the sting because I like you think that that team even though in theory they really upgraded the roster from a talent perspective when they made the Antoine Walker and Jason Williams additions and James Posey, etc. Uh, I thought that other team could have won the title. Um, with Shaq playing the way he was playing. The fact that Shaq couldn’t carry them to a victory at the end of that Detroit series was also um, kind of a a tough pill to swallow as that season came to a close. But it doesn’t hurt as bad because the next season they came back and for all of the troubles and all of the heartbreak they won the championship. So, um, but that definitely it makes the list of, you know, as we go through the eras in Heat history. Yeah, it was really just there’s a trend here of them losing in years where there was an opportunity to win a championship. Like their timing has been Well, talk about timing. Let’s let’s quickly pivot to the next one because it’s the loss to Dallas with the big three, right? Well, right. We’re going there. And then also, like I mentioned, timing in 1516, Bosch getting sick. We’ll never know. That’s This one’s not going to make the list. I was at this one, too, in Toronto, but they had nothing left by game seven because they had no Bosch and no Whiteside, so they lost to the Raptors. And I I think they could have beaten Cleveland that year. They they they had they had handled LeBron pretty well that season. They had a lot of confidence against LeBron, and they had a team that matched up really well with the Cavs. Yes, the big three era. I mean, there’s really there were a million losses during the first year that were really painful for regular season losses. The Milsap game, the Yellington game, like the the earth crumbling, Ethan, end of the world. Well, the Dallas game, of course, nine and eight and us waiting outside the locker room throughout the season. Well, the 0 and5 stretch at home with Crygate, the Chicago game at home was that was the one that did that where three players were crying in the locker room. I mean, everything seemed like the end of the world, but there were two losses that actually worse. So, I’ll just ask you of these two. Um, I said game six against Dallas because that was the finality of it. That was when we knew, okay, LeBron was not going to be LeBron. It just wasn’t going to happen. But game two was the one that more people said was painful because they were up 15. Dwayne and LeBron were celebrating. Dwayne was celebrating in front of the Dallas bench and the Mavs came back and won that game. And we know kind of that reset the series for you. We got to choose one of them. But for you, is it game two or is it game six? Because by game six, I kind of thought they were done anyway. Like I was like, “All right, well that LeBron is just not himself. So this is not And by the way, Rio finally started in that game. I don’t know why Spoy out of the starting lineup.” And Mario played really well, but it wasn’t enough. Um, game two or game six, I guess. Uh, I I have to say, you know, that the way the series unfolded, like watching LeBron be a shell of himself, just that in general is what will stick with me the most. It’s not a single moment of a loss. But for the purposes of this episode and to stay on task, I’m going to go with game two because they had that game. Dwayne sunk the three in the corner and he left uh left it up there and and if I remember correctly from that moment on it was all downhill and they had that series under control. They had such an iconic run like that run through the Eastern Conference and I just remember the levator rants after each series and uh you know catching all the bad takes that came from everybody as people doubted that team initially. It would have felt good to just shut up the world or shut up America, the sports world with that team against Dallas. And that series was probably one of the more humbling moments as a Heat fan cuz we were really loud puffing our chest out all year and then you finally got humbled. And truthfully, like if you really pinpoint the moment, it was the game two collapse. So, uh, I’m going to lean in that direction for that era as well. Even though like the thought of just what happened in Dallas with LeBron and you know, yeah, he’s close to a triple double, but it’s not LeBron type numbers like that stuff really um that’s what lost the series. Dwayne would have had another Finals MVP if if if things had gone differently. But game two is when that when the whole thing shifted. Nobody would remember the coughing or any of the other stuff that happened then or Greg Doyle getting LeBron off his game by asking him why he was fading in fourth quarters or or 3:30 in the morning Dallas time LeBron tweeting now or never before a game. I remember being on a I remember being at I won’t say I wasn’t in perfect condition but I was at a water burger drive-thru uh like 3 and I I was with a couple buddies and we’re like did he just tweet that now or never 3:30? Oh, they’re cooked. They’re cooked. Take the take the maps. Okay, so we we’ve nominated some. Let’s move to the next era. Uh we get out of the big three era. I mean, look, they were awful losses like that last loss of the Spurs and all that, but and you know, the loss the loss the loss when the air conditioning went out, okay? Uh and all that like there there are a lot of bad losses, but we’re talking about like losses that give you like that misery like that finality that that or what could have been, right? So, and I don’t think that the Heat were winning that 14 series no matter what. Honestly, I just don’t the team around people may say, “How dare you glaze past it like um because it was LeBron’s last game in Miami and that’s how it went.” Like that big three era essentially ended in such a horrible fashion. But truthfully, like that crash and burn um I think anybody who was close enough to the team kind of could sense that maybe that was on the horizon. So it wasn’t as uh it didn’t hurt as bad because the the Spurs just wiped them off the floor. So it wasn’t like a Right. No, this wasn’t like a Knicks team like grinding out 82 points. Like the Spurs were playing at an all-time level. Like we talk about a great Spurs team. That was a great Spurs team. Okay. Like that. That’s So no, they weren’t winning that series. Anyway, I mentioned the 16 game against Toronto, but I don’t think that meets the list. There’s no games I even remember uh until Jimmy gets here. All right. So, I I I think that as we look at the Jimmy era, uh the one that’s going to jump out the most. Look, the the first finals once Goran and Bam got hurt, I you know, it was just he did a herculean thing to keep them in it, but I can’t cite the other losses in the finals. They didn’t have a chance. I mean, once Goran was their engine along with Jimmy during that postseason, it was it wasn’t going to happen. Um it’s really 22 game seven, right? Like that’s that’s it. Like it’s it’s it’s the shot for that one too. And Pat mentioned that Pat when Pat talked about Jimmy at his last presser. He talked you Pat talked about uh that game and Jimmy switching to the other side and getting into his uh three-point motion. I still have no problem with Jimmy for taking that shot. Was a kill shot. He was in rhythm. Uh I know he was not a traditional three-point shooter, but I again for all the issues I have with Jimmy, I don’t have an issue with Jimmy about that. Um that that’s the that’s the one right in his era. like cuz it’s another situation. They could have won the finals. We have to acknowledge that they also lost game five at home cuz I came down and covered that game with you guys and um so I I was at that loss too. Oh my god. Greg is not being credentialed again. The fact that I’m still standing here such a um such a dedicated fan and and talking heat every day shows uh the perseverance on my part that I was at all these. But that game seven, he took the shot that we all I mean that’s the shot Jimmy Butler basically uh was brought to Miami to take and it didn’t go down but you live with that. But in now that as we look back on it all and it’s crazy cuz they made another finals run but that season was so nondescript otherwise and they were an eight seed and it’s like you just didn’t expect it. So it was so unlikely that it felt like they were closer in the season where Jimmy missed the three. So it felt like you like I don’t know to me Denver outclassed Miami when they got to the finals in that run whereas that team was a one seed. Jimmy Butler was at his best. There were Bam was playing really well in that playoff run and um they lost it and that was a Golden State team that I think Miami could have beaten. Well, that’s the biggest thing I keep coming back to that that I think the Heat would have bullied that team. I I think so. I if you look at the way that Heat team was constructed, there was a toughness to that team. You had PJ, right? Uh I mean Kyle was still playing at a at a reasonably high level finals off the bench. No, there was f Oh, exactly. there was finals experience on that team. Um, and uh, yeah, I I I think they and and look, for what is worth, Tyler was healthy, right? Like, right, because Tyler wasn’t healthy. I don’t know how healthy and PJ Tucker also was not very healthy by the end of that even though he was playing big minutes. So there would have been limitations and challenges, but Bam and Jimmy, if we’re going to think through that era, and I don’t mean to interject here, I I’ll stop interrupting you, but that’s probably this the the run where Bam and Jimmy were probably at their best together if we look at it holistically. Also, I hate to say it, Jimmy would have Jimmy would have bullied Wiggins in that series. Yeah. Which is kind of depressing, but Yeah. So, all right. So, let’s close on this. Um, so we have the ones we’ve identified. I’m going to throw both the the Heat Nicks ones in there because you and I have a little bit of a disagreement there. Although I see where you’re going. I actually wrote my best game column ever after the one you’re talking about. So, I’m kind of partial to it, but I still think you can narrow it down. Let’s do the Houston shot. Well, either either of them. Then we have uh we have uh D we ch you chose game two against Dallas 2011, right? uh game seven against Detroit at home and we’ve also got uh the game six against uh game seven against Boston at home in 22. I here’s here’s why I I would eliminate the TR I’m sorry. Did I miss one? Uh no, but there’s just housekeeping notes because we’re going through these losses. Uh let’s remember that the Heat have lost by 55 in the playoffs against Cleveland in their most recent series and also have lost by 47 in the playoffs in the 2020 2021 season where they played Milwaukee and obviously that was really bad. So I just want to obviously we’re not doing it like those were some pretty bad losses including the most. So to the newest Heat fan, you’re not crazy. The loss to Cleveland in the playoffs this past year was pretty damn bad. It’s the second worst loss in Heat history. It was, but I think we’re reframing this as we go. I think it’s more the winning versus thing, of course. You know, it’s more heartbreaking. I think most heartbreaking losses in Heat history, and I think we’ve gotten to that by the end of the episode because it’s hard for a loss to Cleveland to be heartbreaking by 55 when you knew that this Heat team was pretty much trash by the end. Like I Right. So, it’s kind of like it’s hard for me to put it there. So, I would say it’s really it’s heartbreak. This team wasn’t going anywhere. So, it’s it’s really it’s really the heartbreaking thing. It’s what could have been and what happened, which is more what happened in the Knicks. And that’s why when when when they when we talk about winning versus misery, it’s not winning versus being a bad team. Misery is knowing there’s some opportunity and not making the most of it. That’s how they really characterize it. And that’s what this is. So, this is the most miserable, heartbreaking losses. So, I’ll change the title on it, but let’s go to it. Okay. And here’s why I’m going to eliminate the Detroit one. They did win the next year. They won a championship the next year. So, they they got at least Dwayne and Shaq as the core got their get back the next season. And it’s also why I’m going to eliminate 2011 because they won the next year. It actually drove them. And I remember I was in Dallas for the season opener after the lockout which started on Christmas by the way that season. They blew out Dallas to start the next season. So they they they had all summer to think about it. They came back better. They added Badier uh and they were a better team at that point. And of course they added Ray right the next year, right? So that’s so so so I I’m going to eliminate those two. So to me it comes down to 22 the Jimmy shot for our newer audience or back in the in the Heat Knicks days and the argument to be made for the Jimmy shot is they would have gone to the finals. Yes. Listen, but I’m still choosing the other. You are still choosing the Yeah. Really? Yeah. No. So this is good. I mean, sometimes we were criticized of of always agreeing with each other. Ethan, I’m going with the Jimmy shot. To me, and listen, I’ve been a Heat fan this whole time. I was at in the building for both of those. Um, and like I said, for the Allen Houston shots specifically, I sat in the arena. My uncle and I were there, and we sat there until everyone filed out. We were the last people to walk out and stared at the court. It was so awful. But there’s just something about the fact that that Jimmy team with PJ Tucker, with just what they had built around it, I thought that that team had enough to get it done. And it was it to me they were closer. They were they were closer than that team back uh when Allan Houston made the shot. And maybe when people listen back to this, they will disagree with me because I know you’re going the other direction, but for me it’s the Jimmy shot. And I see what you’re saying because we would have looked at the Jimmy era totally differently. He probably gets resigned. I mean, a lot of things happen, but you could you can’t argue he didn’t have enough help if they end up winning that championship, right? So, I I get all of it. Uh and then we look at BAM different. We look we look at everything different. But those heat and series, like the level of hatred between those two teams, which was real, and I know there was between the Heat and Boston, I get it. But the Heat also got their get back against Boston the next year. Okay, they didn’t get to the they didn’t win the championship, but they got they got it back. But those series, man, like that Allen Houston shot or I I kind of co co-put them together. the one the next year. They they just they just couldn’t that team like that that it was just it was so and and here’s the other thing. The franchise had not won a championship at that point and now it’s like okay well yes the Jimmy Shot was adding to a list of championships you already own. I I I can see that right cuz the Derek White tip in we got to sneak that in there. That was we do but they won the next game though that actually made it better. I mean, that kind what kind of reminded me what the Panthers just did against Toronto where they had an awful home game, lost two nothing, but then they got to go win in Toronto 6-1 and have those fans file out. It’s like, well, okay, in retrospect, it was pretty good. Like, we’ll take it. Um, yeah, the Derek White one was terrible at the time and and yes, I know people were heartbroken, but they came right back and they made it more embarrassing for the Celtics. So, I So, anyway, you know, we’ll pull this um and we’ll we’ll get into it. Uh there we thank thank our sponsors, but Greg and I finally disagree. Got to the end of the episode. Most heartbreaking losses, by the way, not worse. Uh, thanks to our sponsors, cousins.u cousins.com cousinsusa.com/frsn prize picks. Use that code fiv. Thank you for listening to the five on the floor on the five reason sports network. After all, someone needs to listen to my dad.

After the Knicks choked away Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Ethan Skolnick and Greg Sylvander go through the Miami Heat eras to identify their most heartbreaking losses of all-time.

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