season. Mashburn started in just 21 games of the Mavericks' first 37 games of the 1996–97 season, and on February 14, 1997, he was traded to the Miami Heat in exchange for Kurt Thomas, Predrag Danilović and Martin Müürsepp. Miami Heat (1997–2000) Miami was a loaded team led by all-stars Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway and coached by Pat Riley. The addition of Mashburn boosted the team's offense, and the team finished the season with a franchise best 61 wins with Mashburn averaging 13.4 points in 30 starts. In the playoffs the Heat defeated the Orlando Magic in a difficult 5 games in the first round, followed by a grueling seven game series win against the New York Knicks. Miami made its first ever Conference Finals against the defending champion Bulls, and would lose the first three games of the series before managing a win in Miami in game four, with Mashburn scoring 17 points. The Bulls proved too much for the Heat and won the series in the fifth game in Chicago. Mashburn averaged 10.5 points in his first postseason. Injuries limited Mashburn to 48 games in the 1997–98 season, but he started in each game he played and averaged 15.1 points a game as Miami won 55 games before losing in a five-game first round series to the Knicks. Mashburn started in 3 of the games and saw his production slip. The following season would be shortened to 50 games due to a league lockout, and injuries again limited Mashburn to just 23 starts with averages of 14.8 points a game with 6.1 rebounds a game. Miami captured the best record in the Eastern Conference, but once again lost in the first round to New York, as Mashburn averaged 10 points in the five game series. The 1999–2000 season featured an improvement statistically for Mashburn, as he shouldered more of the offensive load and averaged 17.5 points a game including a career high 112 three point field goals. The Heat won 52 games before sweeping the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the playoffs in three games. This set up another rematch with New York, as the Heat and Knicks battled in another grueling seven game series. Despite scoring in bunches in the Heat's victories, including a 21-point performance in game 5, Mashburn's scoring dropped off in the final two games of the series, and the Knicks