Former Heat coach reminisces on Pat Riley taking up for Spoelstra

All these years later, the "Big Three" era of Miami Heat basketball remains the most captivating chapter in their history and one of the more fun chapters in the NBA's history to talk about, with more coming out in retrospect.

Remember when they were barely above .500 through the first month of the season and LeBron James bumped into a then third-year head coach in Erik Spoelstra? Former lead Heat assistant coach David Fizdale, appearing on the Hoop Genius podcast, remembers it well, responding to the idea that LeBron James wanted Spoelstra fired. "Maybe," Fizdale said while laughing.

"Pat made it easy. They were chanting 'Bring back Pat!' We were 9-8," Fizdale began. "We had just lost a home game that first year and literally the Heat crowd, think about if they can go back and re-visit that moment, they'd probably be kicking themselves in the (bleep), but, they're chanting 'Bring back Pat!' Cause Pat had came back when Stan [Van Gundy] was there and they won it in [2006]."

Spoelstra, James, Wade and Bosh were under a tremendous amount of outside pressure and expectations to dominate from the jump after the most blockbuster free agent haul the league had ever seen.

"Well the next day, Pat came in the office, closed the door. Spo and I think we're getting fired," Fizdale said. "We're like 'It's over, we're cooked, for sure,' and Pat comes in Spo's office, closes the door and he goes 'You guys are doing a great job. I watch every practice. it is as good a practice as I have ever seen in my 30, 40 years of basketball'."

It's easy to see why Spoelstra, who worked his way up through the Heat organization working under Riley, has been so publicly and outwardly grateful to Riley over the years.

"He said 'Don't worry about the noise. I ain't coaching this team, I don't ever want to coach a team again. You guys are the coaches. You're going to go on a winning streak here'," Fizdale continued. "He said 'Trust me, you're doing good stuff.' He said 'You guys just don't know who's going to finish yet. When you figure that out, it's over."

They had good reason to believe that. Despite the team's record at the time, they actually sported the fifth-best Net Rating in the league in that tumultuous first month. The culprit? Their fifth-worst Net Rating in fourth quarters.

"He went and talked to the team after that. It was a great (bleep) chewing basically where he, in so many words, told all those guys, 'I'll trade your (bleep) before I fire him'. That was the end of that," Fizdale said. "You remember, Pat put them on the wall. He'll have them sit, all of them, line the wall, and he went down the line like, 'Nah, if you think for one second he's going anywhere? Cut it out'," Fizdale said. "He's like, 'I'll let this whole team go before I get rid of him.' We won 22 out of 23 games after that, and the rest was history."

David Fizdale says Pat Riley threatened to trade the whole team before firing Spo:

“He (Pat) went to go talk to the team…where he (Pat) in so many words told all those guys ‘I’ll trade your a*s before I fire him’ Pat put them on the wall…he went down the line like ‘if you… pic.twitter.com/k0llKz1DxO
— 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 (@WadexFlash) December 11, 2025

For more Miami Heat information and conversation, check out Off The Floor.

Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at Twitter: @tropicalblanket

Former Heat coach reminisces on Pat Riley taking up for Spoelstra

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For more Miami Heat information and conversation, check out Off The Floor.

Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at Twitter: @tropicalblanket