Miami's 10 Greatest Teams
Honorable Mention to the University of Miami baseball team and their 4 National Championships: 1982, 1985, 1999 and 2001.
Somewhat Honorable Mention to the University of Miami football team and their 5 National Championships: 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991 and 2001. The achievements are great; their methods, and their actions off the field, less so.
10. 2015-16 Florida Panthers. A franchise-record 103 points, but flopped in the Playoffs.
9. 1969 Miami Floridians. They played 4 seasons in the ABA, and made the Playoffs in 3 of them, reaching the Eastern Division Finals in 1969.
8. 1995-2001 Miami Heat. In 6 straight Playoff seasons, they reached the NBA Eastern Conference Finals in 1997, and the Conference Semifinals in 2000. This included rough series with the Knicks in 1997 (won), 1998 (lost), 1999 (lost) and 2000 (lost). Knicks-Heat was roughly the basketball equivalent of the Mets against the Atlanta Braves: A rivalry that was nasty, but competitive rather than geographic in nature, and faded quickly.
7. 1995-96 Florida Panthers. The Panthers got 92 points in the regular season. They've exceeded that in 2000 (98, but lost to the Devils in the 1st round), 2009 (93, but didn't even make the Playoffs), 2012 (94, but against lost to the Devils in the 1st round), and 2016 (103, but lost to the Islanders in the 1st round). Those 2012 and 2016 seasons are their only regular-season Division titles.
This was only the 3rd season of play for the Panthers, but, in the season of "the Florida Rat Trick," they made the Playoffs, beat the Bourque-Neely Boston Bruins, stunned the Legion of Doom Philadelphia Flyers, and then dug through 7 games to beat the Lemieux-Jagr Pittsburgh Penguins.
They lost the Finals to the Colorado Avalanche in 4 straight, but they showed that hockey could not only survive, but thrive in South Florida. The Panthers' poor attendance ever since, even when they've been winning, has thrown that back into doubt.
6. 1981-85 Miami Dolphins. 5 straight Playoff seasons, 4 AFC Eastern Division titles, 3 AFC Championship Games, and 2 AFC Championships -- 1 with David Woodley as quarterback, the other with Dan Marino. This was the era of the Killer B's Defense, which may have had more talent than the 1972-73 "No Name Defense," although that one did a better job of stopping the Washington Redskins.
5. 2003 Florida Marlins. A one-year wonder, and how much of that was due to Ivan Rodriguez's (or anybody else's) steroid use? Certainly, they needed both the Wild Card and an epic Chicago Cubs collapse just to get into the World Series. And then they needed a Joe Torre bullpen blunder to keep from going down 3 games to 1, and an injury to David Wells in Game 5 to set themselves up.
4. 1997 Florida Marlins. Why this one over the 2003 team? Especially since Gary Sheffield is as much a steroid suspect in this season as Ivan Rodriguez is for 2003? Because they went through the postseason without arguably their best starting pitcher, Alex Fernandez. And they needed less of a collapse from the Cleveland Indians than the 2003 team needed from the Cubs.
3. 2003-07 Miami Heat. In 4 straight Playoff seasons, they reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005, and then, in 2006, won the NBA Championship.
2. 2010-14 Miami Heat. The LeBron Era: 4 years, 4 trips to the NBA Finals, and the 2012 and 2013 NBA Championships.
1. 1970-74 Miami Dolphins. 5 straight Playoff seasons, 4 straight AFC East titles, 3 straight AFC Championships, back-to-back Super Bowl wins, and the only undefeated-untied championship season in NFL history. Top that, LeBron.