Greg Cote: Heat & Panthers’ bad Finals starts, Inter Miami’s flux, Ja’s fate in new Hot Button Top 10

GREG COTE’S HOT BUTTON TOP 10 (JUNE 4): 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 19th edition of the new HB10:

1. HEAT: No joke, Jokic is the best and he cannot be stopped: Game 2 in Denver tonight finds the Miami Heat early-desperate after that 104-93 NBA Finals-opening loss. Step aside, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid. Nikola Jokic is the best big man on the planet and super-coach Erik Spoelstra must find a way to beat the Nuggets even as the hulking Serb may continue to dominate. Miami’s cause for optimism? Shot terribly in Game 1, Jimmy Butler was off, Heat got to free-throw line a Finals-record-low two times -- and still they lost by only 11. It ain’t over ‘til it’s over ... or until Jokic says it is?

2. PANTHERS: Road magic ends, Wall of Bob cracks as Cats lose Stanley Cup opener: Florida had won eight playoff road games in a row. Goaltender Sergei (Wall of Bob) Bobrovsky had been lights out in a personal 7-0 postseason run. Such trends have to end -- and did, Saturday night, in the Panthers’ 5-2 Game 1 loss at Vegas to open the Stanley Cup Final. The task now: Rediscover the mojo that won three straight over Boston, and due it fast, in Game 2 Monday night back in Sin City.

3. INTER MIAMI: Coach sacked. Failure continues. But still dreaming!: Inter Miami in its fourth MLS season has won only 38 of 106 matches, drawing 14 and losing 54. The best the club has accomplished is to keep fans believing Lionel Messi is on the horizon. Meantime Miami, last in the Eastern Conference, coach-hunts again after sacking Phil Neville. Three possibilities: Hiring Messi’s Dad would seem to a strategic move. Also, Ted Lasso is available after (spoiler alert) recently resigning from AFC Richmond. Wait! David Beckham as player-coach?

4. SOCCER: A change in the developing drama over Messi’s future: It’s now official (no surprise) Lionel Messi has played his last match for Paris Saint-Germain. It also seems Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal is an increasingly unlikely destination despite all that crazy Saudi money. Latest reports say Barcelona have joined forces with Inter Miami to thwart Al Hilal. The partnership reportedly would have Inter Miami sign Messi and then loan him cheap to financially strapped Barca. Messi would then play one last season reunited with Barcelona before heading the the U.S. to become MLS’ biggest star and rescue David Beckham’s struggling Inter Miami. Stay tuned, but, c’mon, Leo. A decision, already!

5. NBA: The Silver hammer is coming down on Morant: I believe the Memphis Grizzlies and their fans should be bracing for embattled young star Ja Morant to be suspended for up to a full season when punishment is announced after the NBA Finals. Morant appeared on social media with a gun-- again -- and Commissioner Adam Silver hints the league’s investigation revealed “a fair amount of additional information” incriminating to Morant. That the league is withholding an announcement until after the Finals itself suggests the further suspension will be major. The repeat offense made sympathy for Morant difficult to muster. His own worst enemy is the man in the mirror.

6. HORSE RACING: Churchill Downs suspends races over safety: America’s most famous thoroughbred racetrack has suspended racing to examine its safety protocol in the wake of 12 horses dying in the past several weeks. May it be a serious study producing real changes, not a PR move. Some of the equine deaths came in the runup to the Kentucky Derby and led to the suspension of trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. These deaths have become a national epidemic threatening the credibility and popularity of the sport. Horse racing needs a strong national governing body whose main mission is protecting the animals.

7. MEDIA: A personal apology to Miami’s ‘other’ teams: The Miami Heat and Florida Panthers playoff runs-into-the-Finals have swallowed South Florida (and my attention) whole. The Marlins are a bit better than expected and playoff-chasing and No. 8-ranked Hurricanes baseball is hosting an NCAA Regional and nobody (relatively speaking) cares right now because of our double-mindedness on the Heat and Cats. The only ‘other’ team in town that should be happy is Inter Miami, which slogs in last place in the MLS East (see No. 3 above) and should be grateful that few are noticing.

8. TENNIS: No. 1s Alcarez, Swiatek rolling at French Open midpoint: French Open reaches its quarterfinals with top seeds Carlos Alcarez and Iga Swiatek unscatched. The dominant Swiatek won love-love (double bagels) and said she hates the resulting “Iga’s Bakery” memes on social media, calling it disrespectful to her opponents. No. 3 men’s seed Novak Djokovic chases history. He is after his 23rd major Slam win to break a tie with Rafael Nadal, who is not playing in Paris.

9. GOLF: God of the links smites LIV Golf traitors: The great Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus, is talking to you, Brooks Koepka, and others like you who abandoned the warm bosom of the PGA Tour to chase Saudi Arabia’s dirty sportswash money. “I don’t even consider those guys part of the game anymore,” Nicklaus said this week. “I don’t mean that in a nasty way. The other guys made a choice of what they did and where they’ve gone and we don’t even talk about it.” My favorite parts: I don’t mean that in a nasty way, and, We don’t even talk about it -- while talking about it. You go, Jack!

10. CRICKET: While America thinks it’s all about the NBA, NHL finals...: A streaming platform in India drew a record 32 million simultaneous viewers for the final of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament featuring the Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans. Spoiler alert: Chennai hit 10 off the last two balls to beat Gujarat by five wickets. (Just like I’d predicted!)

Other most recent stuff from me: Road magic disappears as Florida Panthers fall 5-2 at Vegas in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final / Time to worry: Miami’s Game 1 loss to Denver, Jokic has Heat in fast trouble / Heat & Panthers out to make history, but Double-Dip Jinx stands in way / Heat wins Game 7 in Boston, first 8-seed in NBA Finals in 24 years / Previous HB10 from last Sunday / And my latest podcasts: