Pat Riley Was Frustrated With Wild Team Culture & Threatened Players With ‘Playing Under the Influence’ Tag, Reveals Udonis Haslem

The 2006 Miami Heat was one of the teams which had the best chemistry in the NBA and there is a reason behind it. We witnessed their iconic on-court relationship through live games, but the ’06 Heat were up to a lot of things off the court as well. Udonis Haslem, who played a pivotal part back then, revealed in his podcast the fun times he had with Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal, etc. which almost put them all in big trouble. 

Haslem revealed, “Off the court, we had fun. That s*** came together at the right time…That team always had talent, but we just did not know how it was going to come together.” This is where the 3-time champion spoke about partying.

NBA players back then had started winning hefty salaries, and many used to make money out of parties. Haslem shared, “Walker got a party, Shaq got a party, Dwyane got a party, Gary Payton got a party… and I’m going all four.” 

Haslem wanted to stay close to all of them and also he did not want to promote “favoritism”. So he did not want to miss any party. That did create a beautiful connection between them. Also, at the same time, Pat Riley hated the fact they were always partying and drinking.

Haslem shared an incident during a game, “He[Riley] gets us in the huddle…he just drops the pen and he says, ‘This is f****** ridiculous. This s*** has to stop…Imma start giving PUIs, Playing Under the Influence’.” 

Haslem and co-host Mike Miller couldn’t control their laughter at this hilarious term. Haslem also revealed that Riley hated the smell of partying and alcohol, which kept coming from them.

Udonis Haslem explained how this helped them in the playoffs

Pat Riley can be as angry as he wants to be, but Haslem believes this is what made the ’06 Heat iconic. This off-court partying and bonding was the main reason why they were so good on the court. Haslem said, “The weird thing was when we got to the playoffs, we probably were the most connected group of guys”.

The Heat were down 2-0 to the Dallas Mavericks in the Finals. From there, they won 4 straight games to win their first championship and Haslem believes they would have not won, if not for that connection. The 43-year-old said, “We were a more connected group, we were a more tougher group, we had grit, and that’s why we were able to take that series.”

Watch this story: “Nightmare season continues for Andrew Wiggins as he drops 127 ranks lowers in a demeaning NBA list”

What are your thoughts on this? Share it in the comments below.