Miami Heat in NBA Finals vs. LeBron caps a week to remember in South Florida sports | Opinion
South Florida is reveling right now in maybe the most fantastic week’s cornucopia of major sports we have ever experienced. That it would happen to come in the midst of a global pandemic and general national anxiety and unrest makes it all the more surreal, and memorable.
Sunday: The Miami Heat eliminates the Boston Celtics four games to two in the Eastern Conference finals to reach the NBA Finals with a 125-113 triumph. Miami now in search of a fourth franchise championship would be worth celebrating on its own. But the opponent? The Los Angeles Lakers. Or, more accurately: LeBron James.
Saturday: The Miami Hurricanes rout the archrival Florida State Seminoles 52-10 at Hard Rock Stadium, in the most lopsided game in the storied series in 44 years. It sees unbeaten UM football, one year after finishing 6-7, vaulting to No. 8 in the national polls.
Friday: The Miami Marlins make the playoffs. Huh. What!? No. It cannot be real. Can it? The rebuilding Fish lost 105 games last season. Nobody saw them as contenders this truncated season. Especially after they started with a spate of postponed games because so many players had tested positive for COVID-19.
Thursday: The winless, rebuilding Miami Dolphins start the long weekend right with a nifty appetizer, a prime-time 31-13 rout of the host Jacksonville Jaguars, in the first performance of this pandemic year that offers a hint of what this new-era Fins team could become. (And we haven’t even seen Tua Tagovailoa yet).
It’s Marlins in the playoffs vs. Heat in the Finals vs. LeBron for the Miami championship in the You’ve Got to Be Bleepin’ Kidding Me division.
You can’t make any of this up.
Not a global coronavirus tossing sports and all of 2020 upside down.
And not how splendidly Miami sports seem to be weathering this storm.
The Marlins on Wednesday play their first MLB postseason game in 17 years, since 2003.
As the Heat prepares to battle for a championship vs. LeBron, who helped Miami reach four consecutive NBA Finals ifrom 2011 to 2014, winning two, before abruptly leaving in free agency, breaking Miami’s heart, denying a lasting dynasty, causing a rift with Heat president Pat Riley and many fans.
There isn’t a more perfect Finals matchup for the Heat. Miami, not even making the playoffs last season, an underdog throughout this postseason, facing the ultimate favorite in LeBron and Anthony Davis.
It took surviving the Celtics to get there. you couldn’t slide a sheet of notebook paper between the Heat and Celtics in terms of who’s better, but Miami was — four games out of six.
Sunday, the cream rose. Ascending star Bam Adebayo carried the load, with 32 points and 14 rebounds. Star Jimmy Butler had 22 points. Twenty-year-old phenom Tyler Herro added 19.
The game was tight late and the Heat told a desperate Celtics team to go away.
I mean, say it aloud, Miami.
The Marlins are in the playoffs.
The Heat are in the NBA Finals ... against LeBron.
If you think it gets much better than this, you might be kidding yourself.
This story was originally published September 27, 2020 at 10:20 PM.