Since Nike became the official uniform provider for the NBA, they’ve instituted some fantastic new promotional campaigns, namely the City Edition jerseys, which are individually designed to pay homage in some way to each organization’s local history.
Obviously, that left a lot of room for interpretation, and certain teams have made gloriously bold decisions in how they’ve chosen to honor their local culture. For instance, the Miami Heat made a big splash last season with their Miami Vice inspired jerseys, with electric blue and pink accents on a white background.
They were so immensely popular that they decided to double down on that this season with their “Vice Nights” campaign, using the same color scheme on a black background, playing 14 homes games in throwback jerseys and playing on a specially designed Vice Nights court. However, going into Friday night’s home game against the Pelicans, the Heat had gone winless in those jerseys in all six games, and letting their superstition get the best of them, decided to ditch those jerseys.
The result was a narrow 106-101 victory, but it was apparently all the evidence they needed to trade those uniforms in again, which is exactly what they did on Sunday against the Jazz. Via Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel:
Sunday, the jerseys again stood in contrast to the blue-and-pink outlined court and the alternate pregame introductions.
Asked before Sunday’s game against the Utah Jazz about the couture choice, coach Erik Spoelstra laughed and said, “We’re, uh … I’m going to go with what we go. There’s few surprises in life.”
There’s been no official word whether they’ll avoid the jerseys once again on Tuesday when the Orlando Magic come to town. They still have six more Vice Nights games scheduled this season, so the outcome of Sunday’s contest could be an omen of things to come.
