The Inter Miami stars couldn’t inspire the Heat to victory in Game 4
Some of Miami’s biggest sports stars were out on Monday night, but those of the soccer-playing variety were unable to inspire the basketball-playing ones to victory.
Inter Miami stars Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba were all in the house for Game 4 of the Miami Heat’s first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics.
But the visitors would end up cruising to a 102-88 win at the Kaseya Center, taking a 3-1 edge in the best-of-seven series.
It was some measure of revenge for the Boston area, after Inter Miami took down the New England Revolution 4-1 over the weekend. Messi scored a brace in the win, taking him to nine goals in just seven MLS games this season.
The Heat made sure to highlight the presence of the ex-Barcelona stars on their social media, showing all four players arriving through the VIP entrance.
Messi donned a Canadian tuxedo for the event, while Suárez opted for the archetypical attire for any superfan: a personalized jersey.
Messi also posted on his personal account after the game, showing his three sons decked out in the same personalized jersey as Suárez — with the No. 10 instead of the No. 9 of course.
The Heat will have to win Game 5 in Boston on Wednesday night to give the Inter Miami stars another chance to attend a home game this season. Should the Heat win, Game 6 would be back in Miami on Friday night.
I don’t know what it was about that shot, man. It just felt like it had a lot of weight to it, you know?
Maybe it was because it put the final exclamation point on that epic 20-point comeback the Nuggets somehow pulled off to take that 3-0 lead. Or maybe it was the years of torment the Lakers inflicted upon the Nuggets franchise over the last, well, forever. That 2009 Western Conference Finals will never go away for Nuggets fans. And stop me if you’ve heard this before, but did you know Kobe Byrant never lost a playoff series to the Nuggets? I’m almost certain you heard that before.
Anyway, I digress. That was last week. When Murray hit that shot, it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime deal. That’s one of those shots that, in 30 years, we’ll look back on as one of the most impressive displays of shotmaking in the clutch we’ve ever seen. No way he can do that again, right?
With 6.2 seconds left on the clock, Murray gets downhill in the pick-and-roll with Nikola Jokic. Again, it’s him and Anthony Davis face-to-face. Austin Reaves is trailing the play, but he gets back in it. By the time he does, though? It’s too late. Murray has risen. He pulls up and shoots a floater over Reaves’ outstretched arm. That’s game. That’s the series. It’s over.
This is the good stuff. This is why we love playoff basketball. It’s the pinnacle of basketball — the top of the mountain, so to speak. The best athletes compete against one another to see who might come out on top.
Despite never being an All-Star or selected for an All-NBA team, Murray somehow finds himself staring down at some of the best names in the game when the lights are at their brightest. It’s uncanny, honestly, but it’s perfect.
I don’t know when we’ll see these teams play against one another in the playoffs again. Maybe it’s next year. It could also never happen again — which, let’s be honest, Lakers fans would probably be thrilled.
But I know this: If we do see this again, Murray will show up to play, and he’ll do it with ice in his veins.
The Motorola Razr just dropped. A measly $499 could get you one of the coolest phones ever. The iPhone didn’t exist yet.
The iPod Mini did though. I’d still rather listen to music on this than my phone, honestly.
Your knees creaking yet? I think I’ve aged myself enough here.
What were you doing back in 2004? Let us know here with this survey. I’ll share some of the best (read: FUNNIEST) answers in a newsletter later this week.
Elimination night in the NHL
Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
There’s a lot at stake on the ice tonight, folks. We’ve got four elimination games coming up in the NHL. A handful of teams are going to be playing for their playoff lives.
The Canucks lead the Predators 3-1 and have a chance to close out the series at home. The Preds are a solid road team but are 6-15 overall in elimination games. If Vancouver wins it’d be the first time the Canucks made it to the second round since 2020.
The Hurricanes lead the Islanders 3-1 in their series with Carolina getting a chance to close things out at home in Game 5. Most of this series has felt extremely competitive, but the Hurricanes are just the better team. As expected.
The Avalanche lead the Jets 3-1 but Colorado will have to close out Winnepeg on the road. The Jets’ defense has struggled all series. Connor Hellebuyck hasn’t quite looked like himself in the net this series, but his line in front of him hasn’t been great either. They’ll have to figure it out if they want a shot tonight.
The Bruins have a 3-1 lead over the Maple Leafs. This series has had a bit of a damper put on it because of health. Auston Matthews (69 goals) has been battling an illness for the Leafs. It’s unclear if he’ll play in Game 5, which would be a devastating blow for Toronto’s comeback attempt.
The Los Angeles Lakers went into this season with high hopes. After locking up some of their younger players like Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and Jarred Vanderbilt to multi-year contracts, many ‘pundits’ considered the Lakers to have won the …
The Los Angeles Lakers went into this season with high hopes. After locking up some of their younger players like Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and Jarred Vanderbilt to multi-year contracts, many ‘pundits’ considered the Lakers to have won the offseason. However, they won just one game in the postseason. Although they won the inaugural In-Season Tournament, the team struggled right after and were behind the eight-ball simply trying to get into the playoffs right up to the end of the regular season.
Seeing their demise this early in the playoffs is surely a disappointment from top to bottom. Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka have to start to look in the mirror and decide when they need to pivot from riding the coattails of their aging superstars. The reality is most teams in the West have gotten better. The Lakers won four more games than last year (47), but were still stuck in the same No. 7 spot in the West.
Let’s take a look at the 2024 offseason for the Los Angeles Lakers.
In 2023-24, Furphy averaged 9.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.3 blocks, and 0.9 steals per game. He shot 46.6 percent from the field, 35.2 percent from three, and 76.5 percent from the foul line.
HoopsHype polled 100 NBA players to determine who is the greatest player ever. Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and others drew votes in the poll.
The Athletic recently released their GOAT poll among active NBA players, which caused much grief in HoopsHype’s headquarters since we had been working on a similar project during the season. Our voter size is similar, with 85 player interviews and another 15 players tallied with their picks via social media or a public interview on the record. However, the results are slightly different, with Michael Jordan getting a bigger gap over LeBron James compared to The Athletic’s poll.
Our GOAT poll also includes a twist. HoopsHype has compiled a detailed breakdown of the players who voted based on their nationality, age, position, salary, star status, whether they have been teammates of LeBron at any point, and the reasoning behind their votes.
The results of our HoopsHype GOAT poll show there’s no clear answer anymore to a debate Jordan would have won clearly a few years ago. Believe it or not, people change their minds. That was the case with Devonte Graham, for example.
“I played for the GOAT, Michael Jordan,” Spurs guard Devonte Graham told HoopsHype. “He paid me. When I played there, he was definitely the GOAT. Once I got traded, it became LeBron.”
Below are the results of the poll and a detailed breakdown of the voting.
HoopsHype’sAlberto de Roa contributed research to this report.
Rafael Stone on Steven Adams: “His physicality and force on the court is something that is not really replicated in the NBA, and we feel like we’re lucky to have him.”
Though he has technically been with the Houston Rockets since early February, veteran center Steven Adams will not play his first game for the team until this fall. He missed the 2023-24 NBA season after undergoing surgery for a lingering knee injury in October.
But he is expected to be fully healthy when 2024-25 training camp begins in late September or early October. At that time, Adams will slide in as a backup and defensive complement to Alperen Sengun.
Here’s what general manager Rafael Stone told Vanessa Richardson, courtside reporter for Space City Home Network (the team’s regional broadcast partner for games and other content):
I just want Steven to be Steven, and I think he’s going to be Steven. I think he’s going to get every rebound — or, if he doesn’t, he’ll just block out the entire team. …
We’re looking forward to him being him. He’s already been around the team enough so that his personality is something I’m looking forward to enjoying, 24/7. And his physicality and force on the court is something that is not really replicated in the NBA, and we feel like we’re lucky to have him.
A first-round pick in the 2013 NBA draft, the 6-foot-11 big man has averaged 9.2 points (58.7% FG) and 8.2 rebounds in 26.8 minutes per game during his 10-year career. Adams is now 30 years old.
The complete interview with Stone can be viewed as part of SCHN’s latest “Rockets All Access” program to wrap up the 2023-24 season. It is being aired several times this week (schedule).
Tomorrow on SCHN we'll recap the @HoustonRockets season as our @SportsVanessa talks with Head Coach Ime Udoka and GM Rafael Stone
Here’s what NBA Twitter was saying about Rudy Gobert’s trade to the Timberwolves two years ago.
Two years ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded multiple first-round picks to land Rudy Gobert in a deal with the Utah Jazz.
And while he has turned out to be a pretty solid player for the Timberwolves, the reactions at the time were… plenty and unpleasant for the French big man.
Gooood morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thank you so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate it.
This morning, I thought, “Do I want to be the petty Wizards fan that runs around all day screaming ‘I told you so!’ to all the fans who told me the Bradley Beal trade was a raw deal for my team?”
After much thought and careful consideration, I’ve decided the answer is an unequivocal yes. Yes, I do.
I told y’all, man. I did. While everyone was online calling me a hater, there I was looking at that roster and asking myself how on Earth Phoenix expected to stop anyone. People called me a madman. They said I was a hater, y’all. Here I sit at my desk this morning completely vindicated.
The Suns are the first team eliminated from the playoffs. The Timberwolves tossed Phoenix out of the playoffs like Uncle Phil used to toss Jazzy Jeff out of his crib back in the day. The series was a clean sweep, much to the chagrin of Beal himself, who told us he refused to be swept and then gave us one of the worst playoff performances of his career. Hilarious.
The most delicious part of all this? I don’t know what the Suns are supposed to do to improve. Honestly, there’s not much to be done. This team is a chaotic mess.
To summarize, the Suns have three massive salaries on the books with no draft equity and very few exceptions available to sign other players and improve. Any big move this team makes will have to come through trade. And, well, quite frankly, it doesn’t have much to trade.
Suns fans, I don’t know where things go from here. But I know this: The ride doesn’t seem like it’ll be a very fun one. Even sitting here as a lowly Wizards fan, I do not envy you.
Thanks for everything, Candace Parker
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
We’re truly losing one of the greats, folks. After spending one last year with the Aces, Candace Parker officially announced her retirement on Sunday.
The announcement itself hit like a punch to the gut. Parker wrote an eloquent goodbye note on Instagram. Did I make it beyond the first paragraph? Barely. Read this, man. Tell me you don’t get the feels.
“I’m retiring. I promised I’d never cheat the game & that I’d leave it in a better place than I came into it. The competitor in me always wants 1 more, but it’s time. My HEART & body knew, but I needed to give my mind time to accept it.”
So many folks had so much love to give — Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, Angel Reese, and so many more — rightfully so. She loved the game so much. It’s only right that she gets it back.
The game won’t be the same without her. But it’s so much better because it had her in it.
Thanks for everything, Candace. Basketball will miss you dearly.
The end for Ovechkin?
(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Speaking of sweeps, the Rangers booted the Capitals out of the NHL playoffs on Sunday night, too. That wasn’t surprising. This New York team is good.
What was shocking, though, was that Alex Ovechkin was held pointless in the series. It’s the first time in his 19-year career that’s happened. He only had five shots on goal.
Alex Ovechkin finishes with no points in an NHL playoff series for the first time in his career. pic.twitter.com/c4HQ1JwmeP
Seeing players we grew up watching hit that final wall of their career is always rough. They’ve seemed superhuman for so long. That moment when they begin to look like everyone else is so painful.
That’s what’s happening with Ovie here. He says he’s still got a few more playoff series in him. Maybe he does.
But if they’re going to look like this? I hate to say it, but it’s time.
Quick hits: Winners and losers of the NFL Draft … The Nuggets’ title defense in doubt? … and more
There are explanations, and then there are explanations by Anthony Edwards.
The Minnesota Timberwolves emphatically embarrassed the Phoenix Suns by sweeping them in the NBA playoffs. On Sunday, they secured a series win, boosted by Karl-Anthony Towns‘ sensational 28-point and 10-rebound outing. How did KAT have one of the best games of his career? You need to hear Anthony Edwards’ absolutely funny NSFW explanation to understand just how tremendous it was.
The Suns are probably not going to want to turn on the film for their abysmal playoff series anytime soon. Anthony Edwards was unraveling them any chance he got, dropping 30-plus points in three out of four games, including Sunday’s monster 40-point performance. But it wasn’t just Edwards. It was KAT, too.
When the Timberwolves went cold during a potential series-clinching game, it was Towns who dropped some timely buckets to give Minnesota its first playoff series win since 2004. Anthony says there’s a simple reason for that. KAT didn’t foul. No, really.
Here’s what he told the media about KAT’s special night (Warning: NSFW language.):
“Tonight, he wasn’t in foul trouble. The first three games, the [expletive] just kept fouling….”
“He’s the best offensive player on the team. If he’s not in foul trouble, it’s a problem for any team that has to guard us because he can stretch the floor. He can post. He can pass. He can do everything….Just stop [expletive] fouling.”
Great answer here from Anthony Edwards on KAT’s importance, and for him to “stop f**king fouling.” pic.twitter.com/B079yJ0Eo4
Ant with the highest level of praise for KAT but also "The first three games the motherf***er just kept fouling … just stop f***ing fouling" 🤣 pic.twitter.com/1C8zxuncaa
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) April 29, 2024
