INDIANAPOLIS — Observations and other notes of interest from Sunday night’s 117-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers:
– So a play-in opener against Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and the 76ers?
– Or a play-in opener against Tyrese Haliburton, Heat killer T.J. McConnell and the Pacers?
– Either possibly on the road.
– No, Sunday did not produce the type of clarity the Heat wanted and needed.
– Even while fighting the good fight to the finish.
– Instead, Erik Spoelstra’s unit is looking like a team that even might require a second play-in game to make the playoffs.
– Which would be either against DeMar DeRozan...
INDIANAPOLIS — To review how the NBA play-in tournament works …
No, this was not the result the Miami Heat needed or even could endure, Sunday night’s 117-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, making it likely that they will have to attempt to earn their way into the playoffs through the treacherous play-in round, where a pair of losses would end their season.
Granted, that would be the same path the Heat took last season in advancing to the NBA Finals, but that was when the Heat played both their play-in games at Kaseya Center, after finishing in seventh place in the East.
Now,...
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By TIM REYNOLDS (AP Sports Writer)
FORT LAUDERDALE — Lionel Messi returned and helped salvage a tie for Inter Miami.
Messi scored shortly after checking in to begin the second half and helped set up Leo Afonso’s go-ahead score two minutes later. But Cole Bassett scored in the 88th minute for the Colorado Rapids and the game ended in a 2-2 tie on Saturday night.
It was Messi’s first appearance for Inter Miami since a hamstring issue led to him getting subbed out early in the second half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup match against Nashville on March 13. He had missed four Inter Miami games since,...
GAINESVILLE — Florida’s defense dominated the 2023 spring game, led a September upset of Tennessee and then fell off a cliff, dragging down the Gators with it.
Amid the offseason talk of Billy Napier maintaining play-calling duties, quarterback Graham Mertz’s improvement in attacking down the field and tailback Trevor Etienne’s transfer to Georgia, the Gators set out to fix the team’s biggest problem during a 5-7 finish.
Napier is confident the Gators’ retooled defense has the talent, experience and staff to chart a new course after two seasons of historically poor play during consecutive losing...
By KEN POWTAK (Associated Press)
BOSTON (AP) — Jesper Boqvist scored 2:05 into overtime, Linus Ullmark stopped 28 shots and the Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Saturday in a matchup of the top two teams in the Atlantic Division.
First-place Boston moved five points ahead of second-place Florida. Both teams have four games left in the regular season — with the Panthers’ all at home.
“It’s another big game, another playoff-type game against a team that’s going to be there and those games aren’t hard to get up for,” said Boston center Charlie Coyle, who had a power-play goal in the...
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By TIM REYNOLDS (AP Sports Writer)
FORT LAUDERDALE — Lionel Messi is coming back to Inter Miami’s lineup, with the team saying his absence for a hamstring injury will end Saturday at home in an MLS match against the Colorado Rapids.
“He’s back,” the team wrote in a social media post Friday.
Messi has missed Inter Miami’s last four games, including one Wednesday when the club wasted a 1-0 lead and lost 2-1 to Mexico’s Monterrey in the first leg of a CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal. Tensions boiled over after that physical game, with members of both teams — Messi included — involved in a postgame...
The 2024 edition of Tortuga Music Festival took off at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park on Friday in an atmosphere that came close to perfect, with blue skies, mid-70s temps and sunny dispositions all around. Priscilla Block was sassy, Boyz II Men crooned, Warren Zeiders rocked and the evening crowd was surprisingly manageable. Another surprise: Ashley McBryde’s secret set on a small stage outside a Jersey Mike’s booth. She did a half-dozen songs and signed a few autographs. The 100 or so fans that caught her were giddy. Something to look out for as Tortuga continues on Saturday and Sunday.