Erik Spoelstra begins his 16th season as head coach of the HEAT and his 29th as a member of the organization. Since being elevated to his current position on April 28, 2008, Spoelstra has rewarded the faith that HEAT President Pat Riley showed in him by garnering a 704-491 regular season record, a 109-75 postseason mark, 12 postseason appearances, nine division titles, six conference championships and guiding the franchise to a pair of NBA championships. Since his ascension to head coach, Miami has the third-highest regular season and fourth-highest postseason winning percentages in the NBA (both second in the Eastern Conference). In February 2022, Spoelstra was chosen as one of the 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA history as part of the league’s 75th Anniversary Season celebration. The list was selected by a panel of 43 current and former NBA head coaches in collaboration with the National Basketball Coaches Association and Executive Director & General Counsel David Fogel.
In 15 seasons at the helm, Spoelstra has already established his place in the HEAT record book as the winningest coach in franchise history. He holds the franchise postseason records for victories (109), winning percentage (.592), series won (23) and games coached (184). In regular season play he ranks first in victories (704), games coached (1,195) and winning percentage (.589). Spoelstra, who passed Riley on Miami’s all-time victory list with win number 455 on Dec. 16, 2017, has also been honored as the NBA’s Eastern Conference Coach of the Month a franchise-record nine times.games in the Conference Semifinals and defeat Boston in six games in the Conference Finals before dropping the NBA Finals to the Lakers in six games.
In a career highlighted by multiple championships and Finals appearances, the 2016-17 campaign might have been Spoelstra’s greatest coaching job. Despite leading the league in games missed due to injury, Spoelstra guided the HEAT to the greatest in-season turnaround in NBA history and as a result shared the National Basketball Coaches Association inaugural Michael H. Goldberg Coach of the Year Award with Mike D’Antoni. After compiling an 11-30 (.268) record at the halfway point of the season, the HEAT completely reversed course going 30-11 (.732) over the final 41 games to finish the season at .500. Previously, no team in NBA history that was at least 19 games under .500, at any point during the season, had ever managed to end the season at .500. Miami finished with the most wins (41) in league history of any team that had been at least 19 games under .500 at any point in a season. The HEAT’s second half turnaround was highlighted by a 13-game winning streak from Jan. 17-Feb. 10, the franchise’s third-longest winning streak and the longest in NBA history by any team that was at least 19 games under .500.
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