and 19 points in the series clinching 5th game. Miami would face the New York Knicks in the semifinals, a series that would go to 7 games in which Lenard scored 22 points in game 3 and 21 in game 5. Miami would go on to lose in 5 games to the defending champion Chicago Bulls in the East Finals. The now proven and popular Lenard would then start in 81 games in the 1997–1998 season, averaging 12.6 points a game while continuing to shoot 40 percent from three-point range. The Heat would make the playoffs but would lose in the first round to New York in 5 games in the first round, with Lenard averaging 14.4 points during the series. An injury would force Lenard to play in just 12 games in the lockout shortened 1998–1999 season, in which Miami again fell to the Knicks in the first round. In the 1999–2000 season Lenard played mostly off the bench, but averaged double-figure scoring with 11.9 points a game while shooting 39 percent from three-point range. Injuries would keep him out of the tail end of the season as well as the playoffs in which the Heat defeated the Detroit Pistons before once again falling to New York in a seven-game series. Following the season the Heat traded Lenard and Mark Strickland to the Denver Nuggets for Chris Gatling. Denver Nuggets (2000–2002) In his first season with the Nuggets, Lenard started in 58 of 80 regular-season games and averaged 12.2 points for a team that failed to make the playoffs, but he placed 10th in the league in total three-point field goals made. The following year featured lineup and rotation changes and he started in 19 of the 71 games he appeared in, but still averaged over 11 points a game. Following the season he signed with the Toronto Raptors. Toronto Raptors (2002-2003) The Raptors had made the playoffs for three straight seasons and featured superstar Vince Carter, all-star Antonio Davis and coach Lenny Wilkens. Lenard started in 24 games of the 63 in which he appeared, but averaged 30 minutes a game, his most on the floor since the 1998 season. As a result, he averaged a career-high 14.3 points a game and was second on the team in three-point field goals. Despite this, Carter's injuries and other problems with the team led them to miss the playoffs, and