Heat, Panthers make South Florida center of the sports universe
Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley meet Larry O’Brien.
We can dream, can’t we? But just having those two iconic pieces of hardware on display in the same area, at the same time, as the Florida Panthers attempt to have their names etched onto the Stanley Cup for the first time and the Miami Heat seek their fourth Larry O’Brien Trophy, is surreal.
Now, to have Matthew Tkachuk and Jimmy Butler tossing each other a trophy during a dual championship celebration boat parade on the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale or Biscayne Bay (or both, why not?), that would be …
Well, it would make spring break on Fort Lauderdale Beach and the Ultra Music Festival in Miami each look like a “normal tourist visit.”
If you are wondering, yes, two teams from the same area have reached the NBA and Stanley Cup finals in the same year. In fact, it’s happened a surprising nine times.
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So not a big deal, right?
Wrong! Do not let that diminish the historical implications of what we are experiencing in South Florida when the Heat open the NBA Finals Thursday in Denver and the Panthers play Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals Saturday in Las Vegas.
The Heat and Panthers both are four wins from a championship. Sure, that’s happened before. But never has the NBA or NHL had two No. 8 seeds playing for a title in the same year … never mind from the same area. And to get there, both stunned the two teams with the best record in the league, the Bucks in the NBA and the Bruins in the NHL.
The Panthers are just the third No. 8 seed to make the finals since the NHL playoffs went to a new format in 1994. The Heat are the second team seeded eighth to play for the championship in the NBA.
The L.A. Kings are the only No. 8 seed in either league to win the championship, hoisting the cup in 2012.
