Greg Cote's Hot Button Top 10: Panthers-Oilers 2.0, Thunder-Pacers, well-timed hot Messi, dire Fins
GREG COTE'S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (JUNE 1): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US THIS WEEK: Our Sunday Hot Button Top 10 notes column -- back after one week off -- brings you what's on our minds, locally and nationally but from a Miami perspective and accentuating stuff that's big, weird, damnable, funny or otherwise worth needling as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. Happy new month, all! Welcome to the 105th edition of your HB10:
1. PANTHERS: Delicioso! It's Edmonton, McDavid in Stanley Cup rematch!: Maybe it was inevitable? It was the way Florida and Edmonton dominated their conference finals with 4-1 advances. Now its a Stanley Cup Final rematch as Panthers try for a repeat championship and Oilers try to avenge last year's Game 7 loss. Game 1 is Wednesday in Edmonton as -- for the fourth straight playoff series -- the other team has home-ice advantage, not the Cats. Will McDavid be 'McOverrated' again? Who'll win? Answers here in our Cup preview column.
2. NBA: It's an OKC-Indy Finals as Knicks fans denied (again): Oklahoma City Thunder own home-court advantage and open as big betting favorites at -700 over Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals, with Game 1 Thursday in OKC. Thunder wait after bouncing Minnesota 4-1 as Indy dispatched the New York Knicks on Saturday to win 4-2. Our prediction: League MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads a comfy Finals win over Tyrese Haliburton's Dad.
3. INTER MIAMI: Messi, Herons heat up in prep for Club World Cup: Inter Miami had been on a skid with only one win and two ties across eight matches before getting hot at just the right time. Team has now won consecutive MLS matches, 4-2 over Montreal and 5-1 over Columbus Saturday -- with Lionel Messi scoring twice in each game. Miami is now 8-3-5 and third in the MLS East. Herons are now off until the June 14 start of the FIFA Club World Cup with their opening match at Hard Rock stadium vs. Egyptian club Al Ahly. Meantime Messi and Luis Suarez have started Deportivo LSM, a soccer club in Uruguay that enters in fourth division.
4. SOCCER: Oui! Oui! PSG wins first-ever Champions League: French power Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday won its first UEFA Champions League crown in the event's 70-year history, routing Inter Milan, 5-0, in Munich. It was the biggest victory margin in the history of what many regard as the sport's biggest soccer tournament after the World Cup. Inter Milan had won thrice (in 1964, 1995 and 2010) and been runnerup in 2023 but was overwhelmed, no embarrassed on Saturday. Real Madrid holds a record 15 UCL trophies and had been defending champion.
5. TENNIS: Fritz fast-exit at French Open extends woes for U.S. men: No. 4-ranked Taylor Fritz's first-round exit at the French Open is the latest disappointment in the now more than 20-year downturn of U.S. men's tennis. No American man has won a major since Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick both did in 2003. Four U.S. women have won a major since Serena Williams' last in 2017 including No. 2 seed Cocoa Gauff, who remains alive at the midpoint in Paris along with fellow Americans Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys. The favorites are still alive as well: Aryna Sabalenka is women's No. 1 seed and betting favorite. On men's side, the money backs Carlos Alcaraz but top seed is Cheatin' Jannik Sinner.
6. DOLPHINS: First FPI model offers glum '25 outlook for Miami: Good news first? Fins should be better than Patriots and Jets in the division this coming NFL season. Bad news? Miami is ranked 19th overall with a negative -0.9 rating in ESPN's first 2025 Football Power Index model. Top-five are Eagles, Chiefs, Ravens, Lions and AFC East-nemesis Bills. Broken down, Dolphins are projected to win 8.2 (of 17) games and given a 37.6 percent shot at the playoffs and 1.1% to win Super Bowl. Ouch. And the pressure on coach Mike McDaniel and GM Chris Grier is further underlined as Fins' offseason work ramps up with mandatory minicamp June 10-12.
7. MLB: Meet 'The Team Put on Earth to Make Marlins Seem Less Awful': As the Dodgers and Yankees and Ohtani and Judge play at the top of baseball this weekend, a nod of sympathy please for the dregs. The Colorado Rockies enter Sunday with a 9-49 (.155) record, after the worst 50-game start (8-42) in MLB history. They are on pace to lose 137 games. The all-time mark is 134 by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, whose players included Highball Wilson, Crazy Schmit and Cupid Childs. (Where'd all the great nicknames go?) Meantime the low-rent Miami Marlins -- rallying cry: 'Were better than the Rockies!' -- flounder along at 22-33 entering Sunday.
8. SOFTBALL: New women's pro league has ex-Marlins exec at helm: The women's pro sports boom has a new facet led by Kim Ng, Miami Marlins groundbreaking executive from 2020-23 and now new commissioner of Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), whose inaugural season opens June 7 with MLB a partner and 'strategic investor.' That will include joint sales, marketing and promotion/broadcasts on MLB Network and MLB.com. Ng in Miami became first female general manager of a major American men's pro team. AUSL's first season will see four teams barnstorming across 10 U.S. cities, South Florida unfortunately not among them.
9. HORSES: Belmont Stakes nears with two after for 'Double Crown': The 157th running of the Belmont Stakes is this coming Saturday at Saratoga in New York. Can someone win the 'Double Crown?' Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty was an 8-5 favorite at last check, with Preakness champ Journalism a nose behind at 9-5.
10. WNBA: Enough with hand-wringing over Caitlin injury!: Headlines seen since Indiana's Caitlin Clark suffered a quad strain that will sideline her a couple of weeks: 'Can WNBA momentum survive Clark absence?' and 'Will Fever avoid spiraling without Caitlin?' People, please! She's expected t miss four games, five tops. She last missed a game in 2017 as a high-school sophomore. If team and league quake due to her brief absence, the league's Renaissance stands on balsa-wood stilts.
UPDATE THE LIST: PEDIGREES OF HOOPS 'N HOCKEY FINALISTS: The championships series are set: Edmonton Oilers vs. Florida Panthers in Stanley Cup Final and Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder in NBA Finals. How each franchise has fared at winning it all, ranked in order of championships won:
Team Seasons Playoffs Finals (Championships)
Edmonton Oilers 45th 27 8th 5 (1984-85, 1987-88, 1990)
Florida Panthers 31st 11 4th 1 (2024)
Indiana Pacers 49th 29 2nd 0
Oklahoma City 17th 12 2nd 0
Note: Pacers played nine seasons in ABA prior to merger, reached five Finals and won three championships. Oklahoma City entered NBA in 2008 when the Seattle SuperSonics relocated.
Other select most recent stuff from me: Stanley Cup preview: On Connor 'McOverrated,' dream Cup rematch, Panthers as face of changed NHL // Florida Panthers oust Carolina in five, reach 3rd straight Stanley Cup Final // Major news on future of Dan Le Batard Show, Meadowlark Media, DraftKings // Game 7 magic as Panthers rout Toronto 6-2, reach 3rd straight East finals // Previous HB10 // Poll: Pete Rse and Shoeless Joe // Panthers' 4-1 ouster of Tampa declares intent, and ability, to repeat as champs // Giannis? Durant? Embarrassed Heat need major help after 55-point loss and playoff sweep // NFL Draft Live! Pick-by-pick analysis, Cote vs. Kiper mock results // Our 34th annual Official Herald NFL Mock Draft // Miami Dolphins should be fed up with Tyreek Hill, but team is too desperate to trade him // LeBron vs. Michael, now Ovechkin-Gretzky. Our obsession with ranking greatness // NCAAs crescendo with exciting Final Fours, but college basketball is broken. Let's fix it // To owner Bruce Sherman of low-hope Marlins: Spend more on payroll, or sell team // Dolphins' 18-month decline, quiet offseason heap pressure on Tua, coach, GM in '25 // A tribute to Miami sports legend Jimmy Johnson as he retires from Fox TV // Must-win MLS season for Messi, Inter Miami a tough climb, as opening 2-2 home draw shows // 15 years later, Dolphins Cancer Challenge is the life-saving legacy of Jim Mandich // Unprofessional Jimmy Butler quit on Heat, ruined his legacy in Miami // Our Top 10 biggest Miami/South Florida sports stories of 2024 // And my latest podcast:
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