Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Coach made lasting TV calls
Fiorentino moving on to community liaison role
It is the moments that Tony Fiorentino will miss, the randomness of 15 seasons as the Miami Heat’s television analyst alongside Eric Reid, a run that will end at the close of the playoffs.
“All we ever tried to do was be honest, entertain and inform the fans. And I think we did that for 15 years. I’m very proud that,” the former Heat assistant coach said before Friday’s game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Fiorentino next will transition into an ambassador role with the team next season, joining Glen Rice, Shane Battier and Alonzo Mourning in the team’s community outreach, while continuing to guide the Heat’s summer youth camps.
What the congenial 68 year old will remember most are the unscripted moments, NBA life as it happened, with the red light on and no opportunity for a second take.
Like the moment when Dwyane Wade formally announced his playoff arrival in the first round in 2004 against the thenNew Orleans Hornets.
“Eric was kind enough to let me make the call, Wade’s first year, when we beat New
Orleans, when they were in the Eastern Conference,” Fiorentino said. “And there was a timeout, a tied game, and that’s the game when Dwyane Wade came of age, when he made the winning shot and I said something like, ‘Stan Van Gundy went to the rookie and he delivered.’
“That was the first year. I think that might be the last time I had a call. It was appropriate for the play-byplay guy to do that and I didn’t know that at the time. So it was cool.”
Because without the ability to laugh at oneself, the NBA can be a lonely place. And a messy one. As it was for a 2008 game against the Timberwolves, courtesy of a young fan in a Wade jersey.
“Eric and I go in the arena and we’re getting ready to do the open,” Fiorentino said, “and we’re sitting on our stools looking toward the stands and we see a kid sitting there and he’s eating like an ice cream cone, he’s eating a cookie and we’re thinking, ‘Man, he’s eating too much stuff.’ He’s got this huge cookie.
“Don’t you know, I think it was the second quarter, all of a sudden we hear something, I turn around, the kid threw up all over my jacket. And we were just starting a West Coast trip. We were going to like the Lakers after that. To be honest, it was a suit I had to wear again on the trip. So I had to send it to the cleaners when we got to Los Angeles.”
The ride has carried Fiorentino through all three Heat championships, including the Big Three era and all of Wade’s career, never missing a work assignment during these past 15 seasons.
“Another one was when we were in the Garden and Dwyane made the jump shot to win the game,” Fiorentino said. “We’re from New York and we know how passionate the fans are. There were 20,000 fans here and I said right after Eric did his thing, I said, ‘How do you quiet 20,000 New Yorkers? Make Dwyane Wade make a jumper at the buzzer.’ “
Fiorentino began working as a Heat television analyst during the 2003-04 season, when he served as a fill-in replacement for selected games for Mike Fratello. He also held that role in 2004-05, before becoming the full-time television analyst in 2005-06.
John Crotty, who has been a Heat radio analyst since 2004-05, will replace Fiorentino next season.
Fiorentino’s run will continue through the first round of the playoffs, with Fox Sports Sun to carry all Heat games in that best-of-seven series that are not broadcast by ABC, which has exclusive rights to their games. All rounds beyond that are national-broadcast only.
“I’m very proud of the fact that I got to work with one of my best friends, one of the best play-by-play guys in the business. Which, you know, it’s always about who you work with,” said Fiorentino, who has held the analyst role twice as long as any predecessor, including long-time Heat fan favorite Dr. Jack Ramsay.
“The fans, social media has been unbelievable this past year, knowing it’s my last year.”
The Heat will honor Fiorentino during Wednesday’s regular-season finale against the Toronto Raptors at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“When I came in,” Reid said. “I was the color analyst and I knew to succeed in that first year I had to develop a relationship with the coaches and Ron Rothstein and Tony were two of the three coaches on that first staff.
“So that’s unique to know somebody and be friends for 30 years and have shared the same experience. So, now you’re working with a great friend over 15 years. That’s close to 1,100 regular-season games. So the chemistry was natural. Everything people heard was real.”
Fiorentino said the philosophy was basic and satisfying over these 15 years.
“I was trying to educate the fans and look at the game through a coaches eyes,” he said. “My job was always to try to figure out why a coach did what he did. There was always a reason why an opposing coach or the Heat coach was trying to do something and it was my job to explain or give a couple of options of why they’re doing it.”