Pat Riley is the true creator of Heat Culture as when he arrived to Miami in 1995, he wasted no time in completely turning the Heat around. But with as much influence as Riley had, he couldn't suit up and play, so he needed to acquire the right players who could translate Heat Culture onto the court. He would first trade Heat star Glen Rice to Charlotte for their star big man Alonzo Mourning prior to the 1996 NBA season, then at the trade deadline he acquired Golden State's Tim Hardaway and together, these two would turn the Miami Heat into contenders overnight. During their time together, they would each find themselves finishing top 5 in NBA MVP voting, both make First Team All-NBA and have multiple All-Star selections. But what they couldn't do is bring a championship to Miami, even though they never had less than 50 wins together and made the playoffs every year, the closest they would get would be the conference FInals where they would be defeated by Michael Jordan. And after this, they would engage in bitter postseason rivalry with the New York Knicks led by guys like Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Allan Houston, Latrell Sprewell and Larry Johnson, and the Heat would consistently lose in disappointing fashion. Then injuries caught up to Hardaway and Mourning dealt with a kidney issue, and after 5 and a half seasons, the duo was no more. They definitely underwhelmed by losing to the underdog Knicks most years, but these two are still responsible for creating Heat Culture for all the generations of players after them, and bringing the Miami Heat into NBA relevance.

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