Cote’s Hot Button Top 10: NBA Finals, Stanley Cup, World Cup, Barkov, PSG and more
GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (MAY 31): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US THIS WEEK: Bye bye, May. Today: It’s Knicks-Spurs in NBA Finals and Carolina-Vegas for Stanley Cup. Plus 10 days ‘til World Cup, Barkov’s back, PSG repeats, insane French Open and more. Welcome to 151st edition of HB10, bringing you what’s on our minds from a Miami lens and accentuating stuff that’s big, weird, damnable, funny or worth needling as sports week past pivots to the week ahead:
1. NBA: It’s a Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals tipping Wednesday; San Antonio favored: With New York Knicks rested and waiting, San Antonio earned its ticket to NBA Finals with Saturday’s 111-103 Game 7 win in Oklahoma City to dethrone the reigning-champ Thunder. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Texas; the Spurs are series betting favorites per DraftKings at -205 to NYK’s +170. Spurs have won five titles, last in 2014. Knickerbockers have won twice but not since 1973. It’s New York’s first Finals since 1999. As an aside, kudos to league for its new anti-tanking rules: Expanding draft lottery from 14 to 16 teams, flattening odds even further, and creating a “relegation zone” that penalizes the bottom three teams with diminished chances for the No. 1 pick.
2. NHL: Anybody excited for a Carolina-Vegas Stanley Cup Final?: Not sure TV ratings will reflect mad interest in America for Knights vs. Hurricanes but we got it with Friday’s 6-1 Carolina win over Montreal. Both teams are after a second Cup; Vegas won in 2023 and Carolina in 2006. Hurricanes are betting favorites at -155, with Game 1 Tuesday night in Raleigh. (Fun fact: FlaPanthers, watching playoffs on TV for first time since 2019, were a combined 4-1 vs. Vegas and Carolina this season.) Amid playoff cheering hockey mourns the suicide of Claude Lemieux at 60. Unrelated to Mario, Claude won four Cups with three teams and his 80 career playoff goals rank ninth all-time. He’d appeared at a Montreal East-finals game just three days before taking his own life.
3. SOCCER: Countdown 10 days ‘til World Cup; Messi confirmed: With MLS on a World Cup break, it’s the 10-day countdown to the July 11 start of soccer’s biggest tournament across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Reigning champion Argentina confirmed Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi would play -- the biggest non-surprise in sports. Present World Cup betting odds have Spain (+475) and France (+500) near co-favorites followed by England, Brazil and Argentina. Host U.S. has 14th-best odds of 48 teams.
4. HOCKEY: Barkov’s big comeback has Finland playing for crown at Worlds: Zero doubt anymore: Aleksander Barkov ... is ... back! After missing the Florida Panthers’ entire NHL season to a knee injury, Barkov has led Finland’s men’s ice hockey team to the 2026 IIHF World Championship game today vs. host Switzerland. Barkov has three goals and eight assists in the tournament including one of each Saturday as the Finns upset Canada 4-2 to reach the title game.
5. CANES BASEBALL: Miami must win 3 straight in G’ville for Super Regional: Saturday night’s crazy 22-10 Miami loss to No. -ranked Florida in the NCAA baseball regional in Gainesville means UM must win three straight games now to reach a Super Regional and a shot at the College World Series. Canes have a noon must-win today vs. Troy, then would face another must-win at 5 p.m. vs. the Gators to then force a winner-take-all Monday rematch.
6. SOCCER: PSG goes back-to-back for men’s UEFA Champions League crown: Favored Paris Saint-Germain became first back-to-back Euro champ in eight years Saturday by denying England’s Arsenal its first-ever title in soccer’s second-biggest trophy to the World Cup. PSG trailed six minutes in, drew even on a 65th-minute penalty kick, then scored a 1-1 (4-3 PKs) victory on penalties in Budapest. It was a just verdict as Paris dominated time of possession, corner kicks and other signs of control.
7. TENNIS: Upsets have crazy French Open wide-open; is Serena plotting comeback?: With rival Carlos Alcaraz out injured and veteran Novak Djokovic also losing, Jannik Sinner was supposed to breeze to the French Open title. Nope. His exit was shocking and early, leaving the men’s side as open as the women’s half at the major’s midpoint in Paris -- with only six of 20 combined top-10 seeds still alive early today. Meanwhile 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams -- who never officially retired but hasn’t played on tour since 2022 -- reportedly is plotting a return to tennis at age 44 and plans to play doubles at the Queen’s Club Championships in London, which begin June 8.
8. MLB: Phils’ Sanchez, after scoreless-innings mark, back on hill Wednesday: Philadelphia lefty Cristopher Sánchez has reached 44 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings -- seventh all-time and only three innings out of third place -- as he next pitches Wednesday at home vs. San Diego. The streak broke the Philly record set by Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1911. The record is 59 straight scoreless innings by Orel Hershiser in 1988.
9. DOLPHINS: Fins down to last offseason work before training camp: The rebuilding Dolphins stage a mandatory minicamp this Tuesday through Thursday and then have only three additional offseason workdays left, on June 8-9 and June 11. Miami is then off until the late-July start of full preseason training camp. The Fins and new coach Jeff Hafley presently have 300-1 todds to win the Super Bowl; only Arizona is more of a longshot.
10. MARLINS: Unpredictably up-and-down Fish lose 4th straight: The topsy-turvy, leading-the-bigs-in-inconsistency Marlins are 26-33 after a fourth straight loss Saturday at the Mets -- following a season-best four-game win streak. And the dogfight for the NL East cellar rages on. Miami’s nine-game road trip continues today/Sunday at the Mets again, then it’s on to Washington. Quick aside: With his recent woes, diminished ace Sandy Alcantara’s trade value is tanking again as his ERA balloons.
THE LIST: MLB’S SCORELESS-INNINGS RECORD THREATENED: A Philadelphia Phillies pitcher is chasing one of MLB’s hallowed records -- most consecutive scoreless innings pitched. The top seven all-time:
Innings Player, Team (Year)
59 Orel Hershiser, Dodgers (1988)
58 Don Drysdale, Dodgers (1968)
47 Bob Gibson, Cardinals (1968)
45.2 Zack Greinke, Dodgers (2015)
45.1 Carl Hubbell, N.Y. Giants (1933)
45 Sal Maglie, N.Y. Giants (1950)
44.2 Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies (current)
Other select most recent stuff from me: Poll Dance: Who do you hope wins NBA Finals? // As we lose ‘72 Perfect Season Dolphins 1 by 1, time to cherish Miami’s family heirloom // Heat needs Giannis to reverse slide to irrelevance // Previous HB10 // Podcast: Greg’s catchphrase on Cubs broadcast // Dolphins will be better than you think in ‘26. Here’s why // Perfect? No. But Messi is godsend who has exceeded all hopes // Florida’s escalated fight with NFL mirrors larger war on DEI // One month out, tickets are pricey. No duh. Savor World Cup anyway // Stephen Ross takes last big swing to rescue legacy as Dolphins owner // Should America be rooting for Knicks and Sabres in NBA, NHL playoffs? // Heat’s Pat Riley still fighting for career finish Shula never got // Dolphins’ new GM earns trust on Proctor, draft. But he better be right // Power of Lionel Messi shows in Inter Miami’s latest coaching change // Heat end season valiantly, but effort and almost are not enough // State of Miami Sports; Grading Fins, Heat, Cats, Fish, Inter Miami & more // U.S. team struggles, doubts grow as men’s World Cup nears // Sandy shines, Marlins win to launch latest season of budget-ball // Baseball, politics, emotion lift Venezuela past U.S. to WBC championship // Dolphins got good haul, but blame Curse of Tua for trading Waddle at all // Dolphins’ major rebuild is on -- and it’s about damned time // Dolphins’ new coach, GM take on 25 years of franchise torpor and a QB mess // Canes title-game loss does not erase success of watershed season // Step aside, other cities: Why 2026 in sports belongs to Miami // And my latest podcast:
