Greg Cote: Butler feels the love, Wade hears the hate and more Messi-to-Miami in new Hot Button Top 10

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (MAY 7): WHAT IN SPORTS HAS GRABBED US LATELY: Our Sunday Hot Button Top 10 feature had been blog-only but with our blog now retired it moved, re-imagined, to online-only. HB10 means what’s on our minds, locally and nationally, but from a Miami perspective and accentuating stuff that’s major, offbeat, damnable, funny or worth needling as the sports week just past pivots to the week ahead. Welcome to the 15th edition of the new HB10:

1. HEAT: Butler returns big, Miami wins ugly to take 2-1 control over Knicks: LeBron James vs. Steph Curry (a.k.a. Lakers vs. Warriors) tops the NBA postseason marquee, but spare a nod to Miami’s Jimmy Butler, who returned from an ankle injury with 28 points and felt the love from the home crowd Saturday night to lead an ugly Heat win that gave his team 2-1 control of the second-round playoff. But control of the series will swing back to NYK unless Heat take Game 4 back in the 3-0-5 Monday night.

2. PANTHERS: Underdogs no more as Florida sweeps in Toronto, brings 2-0 lead home: No. 8-seed Florida has reveled in its underdog role this NHL postseason. But after winning three straight elimination games to oust mighty Boston and then taking a 2-0 second-round lead in Toronto back home starting Sunday night, the underdogs are looking like the alpha dogs. Matthew Tkachuk and Sergei Bobrovsky front a group really humming for coach Paul Maurice. Who will stop them?

3. SOCCER: Tea leaves turning again as Messi/PSG divorce nears: Paris-Saint Germain suspended megastar Lionel Messi over an unapproved trip to Saudi Arabia, reportedly assuring Messi, 35, won’t re-sign with PSG. and will sign elsewhere as soon as late June. Viable options: Return to former club Barcelona, follow the nine-figure money to Saudi club Al Hilal, or join MLS with Inter Miami, where an ownership stake awaits. My guess: Messi ceremonially ends his career reunited with Barca but first cashes in with the Saudis or comes to Miami for a couple of seasons. HB10 debuts a weekly poll today. Vote now:

4. AUTO RACING: Verstappen pick in Miami Grand Prix; Hamilton already won: Formula One’s Miami Grand Prix is back for a second run Sunday on the autodrome at Hard Rock Stadium, with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen the favorite to repeat as champ. (Can somebody beat Max, por favor. Getting a bit predictable in here.) F1 star Lewis Hamilton already won in Miami by speaking out against Florida’s anti-LGBTQ laws (see No. 5 below). “It’s not good at all,” he said. “I stand by those within the community here. I hope they continue to stand firm and push back. I’ll have the rainbow on my helmet.”

5. DWYANE WADE: Miami icon finds stardom no shield against hatred: Wade and actress-wife Gabrielle Union, who have a teenage transgender daughter, moved from Florida to L.A. because of the dystopian state’s anti-LGBTQ laws, and the ex-Heat star has been outspoken in loving support of his child. Wade has been rightly lauded. But he got jeered leaving Heat-Knicks Game 1 at Madison Square Garden by a small group of idiots -- one yelling with plain ignorance that Wade “mutilated” his son. Sad. Pathetic. Unfortunately Florida and other states have passed laws enabling the misunderstanding and hate.

6. HORSE RACING: Mage wins Derby under tragic cloud at track: Mage, off at 15-1, won the 149th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday, with Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano ending an 0-for-15 run in the Derby. The winning horse’s part owners include Ramiro Restrepo, a University of Miami graduate, and South Florida resident Gustavo Delgado Jr. But the first leg of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown ran under a cloud. Seven horses died at the track in the past week including two in earlier races Saturday. One, Wild On Ice, had been entered in the Run For The Roses. One involved trainer, Saffie Jospeh Jr., was suspended indefinitely and had another of his horses, Lord Miles, scratched from the race.

7. NFL: Aaron Rodgers/New York love affair taking off like a Jet: Jets season-ticket sales have spiked 250 percent since Green Bay and NYJ finally finished the trade to make Aaron Rodgers the big dog in the Big Apple. He’s be out-front since, including courtside seats at Game 2 of Heat-Knicks at Madison Square Garden alongside the likes of Chris Rock and Jessica Alba. Before the game Rodgers and new teammate Sauce Gardner, the cornerback, dined at upscale Italian joint Carbone, where the whole Branzino goes for $95. Um, Aaron picked the tab.

8. NFL: U.S. investigating King Sport’s treatment of women: The New York and California attorneys general are investigating the NFL’s treatment of females employees, citing a February 2022 New York Times article about workplace discrimination at the NFL itself, with more than 30 former employees alleging unfair treatment due to gender or race. NFL says it will cooperate fully but calls the allegations “entirely inconsistent with [our] values and practices.”

9. GOLF: ‘The Match’: Can’t kill it and it won’t go away: ‘The Match,’ the series of exhibition match-play celebrity golf events, began in 2018 as a dumb idea so naturally it caught on. It’s usually been pros vs. celebs but the eighth edition planned for June 29 in Vegas is all-athlete teammates: Warriors Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson vs. Chiefs Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Our reaction: Ho-hum. Mahomes and Curry have already done it. Curry/Thompson are big early favorites at +200, because you can wager on anything. How’s this for a prop-bet: Ma Kelce turns up as a caddie?

10. NUISANCE RELATIVES: Can Jackson Mahomes just go away, please?: The maturity-challenged, boorish younger brother of the Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes is noted mostly for having a famous relative and for the resulting Tik-Tok following. Now he is also known for posting $100,000 bond after his arrest on three counts of aggravated sexual battery related to an incident in Johnson County, Kansas. Suggestion for the Mahomes family: Discreetly give Jackson a one-way ticket to Uripiv, a small island with no internet off the northern coast of Malekula, Vanuatu.

Other most recent stuff from me: Butler returns, Heat wins ugly to take 2-1 series lead over Knicks / Underdogs no more: Panthers’ 2-0 lead in Toronto a statement and declaration / Panthers win Game 1 in Toronto; Heat in good shape despite Game 2 loss sans Butler / Heat, Panthers turning doubt to belief like magic with unexpected playoff runs / Believe in miracles! Panthers end mighty Boston’s season with 4-3 OT win in Game 7 / Disrespected Heat quiets Garden, wins Game 1 at Knicks / Previous HB10 from last Sunday / And my latest podcast: