Miami, FL
Miami Heat think they are ready to make another unlikely run: 'It'll be a show'
MIAMI — Before he was done with the sentence, Bam Adebayo caught himself. The Miami Heat center was about to consider this season in isolation. Whoops.
“We’ve (gone through) a lot of ups and downs throughout the season — these past seasons, actually,” Adebayo said after the Heat polished off a 46-36 regular season with a 118-103 win over the Toronto Raptors. “This is the time of year when backs are against the wall. You start to find out who everybody is.”
It is clear that, while acknowledging each season is a bit different, the Heat bathe in a self-assurance that belies their eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. After last year, the Heat might have to miss the playoffs to rule them out of making a deep run into late spring.
Our play-in matchup is set. pic.twitter.com/UStoWaTks0
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 14, 2024
After losing the 7-8 Play-In game to the Atlanta Hawks, the Heat were a few minutes away from missing the playoffs proper last season. They came back to edge the Chicago Bulls, and that’s when the fun started: upset wins, at least by seeding, over the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics, the first, fifth and second seeds in the Eastern Conference respectively. They lost to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals.
The Heat have made the conference final in three of the four last seasons, despite being the fifth and eighth seeds in the two in which they made the Finals.
And so it is again, with the Heat seeded eighth heading into the Play-In Tournament. They will visit the Philadelphia 76ers in the 7-8 game on Wednesday. If they win, they play the New York Knicks in the 2-7 matchup. If they lose, they will play the winner of Tuesday’s game between the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks for the right to play the Boston Celtics, the heavy favorites to advance out of the Eastern Conference.
The question is obvious: Can the Heat do it again?
“The playoffs will let us know. But we’ve certainly experienced a lot together, that’s for sure,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before the Raptors game. “It’s been an eventful season. Many different things have happened. But I think as long as your team approaches all of those experiences the right way, you’re gaining something from it and then developing some collective grit and toughness and all of that.”
Last year, the Heat entered the Play-In Tournament with the ninth-ranked defense and the 25th-ranked offense, sporting a negative net rating. This year they were fifth and 21st, respectively, before Sunday’s finale. Jimmy Butler played 64 games last year as opposed to 60 this season, but his per-minute and advanced statistics were some of the best of his career in 2022-23. They fell to previous levels this year, although he has been a more dangerous and prolific 3-point shooter this year. Adebayo won’t win Defensive Player of the Year, but he will find his way on to many ballots.
The broad strokes are similar.
“We’re not the same group as last year, so we leave that where it’s at,” Butler said. “We’re moving forward with the group that we do have. But we … are very confident in the guys that we do have, and we know what we’re capable of.”
“I think the biggest takeaway from last year is just (that) anything can happen,” Heat guard Tyler Herro added. “It’s not ideal to be in the seven or eight spot, but we’re here and that’s our reality. We can make moves with wherever we’re at.”
Herro, the Heat hope, is one of the biggest differences. Last year, he broke his hand in the first game in Miami’s first series, not playing another minute in the playoffs. This year, Herro missed 20 consecutive games in February and March with a right foot injury. Obviously, nothing can insulate him — or anyone else — against suffering another random injury, but he should be fresh heading into the playoffs.
Herro came back for the last six games of the regular season, averaging 21 points per game on 44.8 percent shooting, including 37.5 percent from the floor. That is close to where his regular season numbers finished.
The supporting cast has changed from last year, with Max Strus in Cleveland and Kyle Lowry in Philadelphia. The man who Lowry was traded for, Terry Rozier, has missed the last four games of the season with a neck injury. Duncan Robinson missed the last four games, as well, with a back injury. They are considered day-to-day, with their status for Wednesday up in the air. Kevin Love also has an upper arm injury that could hamper him or keep him out of the lineup on Wednesday.
With that said, rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr., Haywood Highsmith and Nikola Jović have stepped comfortably into meaningful roles. The Heat have made runs at less than full strength before. So long as they have Adebayo and Butler, they will believe in themselves, even as the rest of the world is skeptical that they have another magic trick at their disposal.
“I’m good. We all are,” Butler said. “It is another opportunity to play basketball at a high level in front of the world, in front of our fans, in front of their fans. So it’ll be a show.”
Given his past playoff exploits, when Butler says it, you tend to believe, too.
You can buy tickets to every NBA game here.
(Photo of Tyler Herro: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
Miami, FL
MLS: Messi double helps Inter Miami slay Rapids in front of huge crowd
Argentine forward’s brace included the match winner against Colorado Rapids in front of over 75,000 fans in Denver.
Published On 19 Apr 2026
Lionel Messi scored a brace and German Berterame headed another as Inter Miami earned a 3-2 win over the Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer (MLS) on Saturday in Denver.
Messi scored the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute. He started a run just inside midfield and went unchallenged until the box, where he blasted into the upper left corner for a 3-2 lead.
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Rafael Navarro and Darren Yapi each scored for Colorado (4-4-0, 12 points) in front of 75,824 at Empower Field, the second-largest crowd in MLS history.
Miami (4-1-3, 15 points) took a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute after Colorado goalkeeper Zack Steffen’s pass was intercepted by Yannick Bright. Josh Atencio offered a hard challenge and was shown a yellow card after video review.
Messi took the resulting penalty and rolled his shot straight down the middle as Miami took a 1-0 lead.
Colorado had a solid look at the goal when midfielder Wayne Frederick attempted a one-touch lob. Miami goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair was out of position and well beyond the penalty arc after heading away a loose ball, but Frederick’s attempt sailed over the open net.
In the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time, Miami extended their lead to 2-0, connecting on a series of passes deep in their attacking third. Messi got the run of play started with a tight touch pass to Rodrigo De Paul.
De Paul sent Mateo Silvetti on a run to the boundary line. His inward-spinning cross floated to the front of goal, where Berterame rose above the Colorado defence and tucked a header under the bar.
Navarro’s goal cut Miami’s lead to 2-1. He started a run in midfield and used a step-over move to get an open shot a few steps into the box that tucked inside the left post past a diving St. Clair in the 58th minute.
In the 62nd minute, second-half substitute Yapi settled on a direct pass from Lucas Herrington and sizzled a shot past St. Clair for the equaliser.
Miami closed the win playing a man down as Yannick Bright was sent off with a red card in the 87th minute.
Miami, FL
Former Titans GM mock Miami right tackle to the Cleveland Browns at 6
The Cleveland Browns traded for an extended right tackle, former Houston Texan Tytus Howard, at the start of free agency as they began their rebuild of the offensive line that was awful in 2025. But Howard has played every position on the offensive line except for center, so if it’s all about getting your best five on the field, which it should be, there’s a chance Howard doesn’t play at right tackle in 2026.
While doing a mock draft on Peter Schrager’s podcast, former Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon had the Browns drafting Miami (FL) right tackle sixth overall. He talked about the issue with Howard, but said Mauigoa could either take over the tackle spot or be a really good guard.
Carthon said he knows that Mauigoa would be one of their best five, whether it is at guard or tackle. Some will say that a guy who may be best at guard isn’t worth the sixth overall pick, and I have to disagree. You should draft the best football players, and Francis Mauigoa is my highest-rated offensive lineman and seventh overall. It might be at guard, but I have a good feeling that Mauigoa will find a home in the NFL as a high-quality offensive lineman.
Miami, FL
Inventory drops for first time since 2023 as sales rebound across coastal Miami, beaches
Inventory of homes and condos across the coastal Miami mainland and Miami Beach and the barrier island markets fell in the first quarter, marking the first big inventory drops since 2023.
The Corcoran Group’s first quarter reports don’t cover all of Miami-Dade County, but they offer insight into how the coastal markets, which have a higher share of luxury properties, are performing.
In Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Surfside, Miami Beach, Fisher Island and Key Biscayne, single-family home inventory dropped 15 percent annually to 398 listings, and condo inventory was down 13 percent to 3,919 listings.
On Miami’s coastal mainland markets, which include Aventura, Miami Shores, Upper East Side, Edgewater, downtown Miami, Brickell, Coral Gables and Coconut Grove, inventory slipped 4 percent to 4,584 condo listings and 555 single-family listings, down 6 percent year-over-year.
Here’s a closer look at the market:
Miami Beach and the barrier islands
Single-family sales rose 13 percent year-over-year to 85 closings, the first time they have increased since the second quarter of 2024. Condo closings rose 15 percent to 693 closings, the first increase since the last quarter of 2024.
Pricing dropped, with the median price of single-family homes down 4 percent to $3.5 million and the median condo price down 9 percent to $640,000. The average price per square foot was nearly flat at $1,119.
Still, buyers set records with their purchases. Billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg paid $170 million for the waterfront mansion at 7 Indian Creek Island Road, and Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultz paid $44 million, or $7,949 per square foot, for a penthouse at the Four Seasons Residences at The Surf Club.
Coastal mainland
Sales of single-family homes on the coastal mainland rose 16 percent to 220 closings. While markets like Coral Gables experienced declines in condo and single-family home sales, Coconut Grove home sales surged — up over 100 percent for single-family homes to 47 closings and up 55 percent to 87 condo closings. Condo sales rose 13 percent to 759 closings.
The median price of single-family homes across the coastal mainland rose 11 percent to just over $2 million. The median price of condos increased slightly, up 1 percent, to $602,000.
The priciest deals in the first quarter were the $32 million trade of 12 Tahiti Beach Island Road in Coral Gables, and the $19.8 million sale of a penthouse at Vita at Grove Isle.
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