"The folks at Perry Ellis and Ike Behar hooked it up for us," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "Me and the rest of the guys take fashion pretty seriously, so working it into the intro video - very cool."

The clip is based on the replicating-resistance-is-futile properties of the Mr. Smith character from The Matrix film trilogy, filtered through a GQ-inspired fashion shoot.

"We keep coming at you in waves," said Heat executive veep Michael McCullough, explaining the full-court press philosophy behind the fashion. "Perry Ellis came to our training camp in late September and early October with their head tailor. It was a little funny because she couldn't have been over 5 feet tall. We had her on chairs and ladders doing the measurements."

That custom clothier - Florence Dong, vice president of technical design for Perry Ellis - probably got some tall tales out of that experience.

"The Miami Heat players were ideal models: very professional, friendly, down-to-earth and cooperative," she said.

Male model-slash-hoopster? Why not? They're tall and accustomed to being stared at.

The made-to-measure shirts were trim-fitted. The shirts and neckties were a family affair for SoFla's Behars, with brothers Steven, Alan and Lawrence under the direction of their master-tailor father.

"We knew we had to give them some room in their upper bodies and a little more shoulder room for athletic body types," said merchandise director Steven Behar. The Cuban-born patriarch, Ike, has dressed the likes of Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino and Denzel Washington for movies.

"My father brought all of us to help out," Steven Behar added. "If more than one player came in, then we were there to help out. I guess we spent about 10 to 15 minutes with each player. They are all very nice ... Dwyane Wade was especially interested in our other clothes."

Behind the scenes, word has it that some of the dapper dribblers were iffy about the body-conscious Euro-cut of the suits, but got on the team after seeing how sharp they looked.

Yup, they're male models now.

Swoosh!

Watch the video intro and get a behind-the-scenes look at all the action. SunSentinel .com/fashion