Heat, Panthers enter conference finals as No. 8 seeds, but parallels don’t stop there
The two wildest stories in sports right now are separated by 35 miles, a single county line and not much else. The Miami Heat are the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference and are now playing in the NBA conference finals, and the Florida Panthers were the last team to get into the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs and are now in the NHL conference finals.
Their stories are different — the Heat is a perennial championship contender, in the Eastern Conference finals for the seventh time in 17 years; the Panthers are in their first Eastern Conference finals since 1996 — and yet also strikingly similar, beyond just both being No. 8 seeds that begin play this week on the road on TNT. (Heat-Celtics, 8:30 p.m., Wednesday; Panthers-Hurricanes at 8 p.m. Thursday.)
They were both two of the best teams in their leagues just a year ago — Miami was the No. 1 seed in the East and Florida the No. 1 team in the whole NHL, winning the Presidents’ Trophy (most points in the season) for the first time. They followed it up by hovering around .500 for most of two underwhelming, uninspiring regular seasons and then making the playoffs at basically the last moment — the Panthers qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs with a game to spare and the Heat had to win a play-in game with elimination on the line to make the 2023 NBA playoffs last month. They’re even both led by tough-as-hell star forwards — Jimmy Butler for Miami and Matthew Tkachuk for Florida — and have insisted the challenges of the regular season primed them to take off in the playoffs.
“It’s a fun time right now in South Florida,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It really is if you’re a sports fan.”
Said Panthers coach Paul Maurice: “The only thing better than coaching one of these two teams would be owning a sports bar because you are on a roll right now.”
Once-in-a-lifetime runs
It has been four years since two teams from the same market made the NBA and NHL conference finals in the same year (San Francisco-San Jose area). And six years since an No. 8 seed made the conference finals in the NHL (Nashville Predators) and 24 since an the New York Knicks made the conference finals as a No. 8 seed.
This is the first time Miami and Florida have ever made their respective conference finals in the same season and the first time two teams from the same market were No. 8 seeds — or, technically, second wild cards in the Panthers’ case — and went on to make the conference finals.
Despite the Heat’s record of postseason success, its appearance in this year’s East finals is even more improbable than the Panthers’ surprising run. After a frustrating regular season full of inconsistent play and injuries, Miami closed the regular season with a 44-38 record and is only the second No. 8 seed to make the Conference Finals since the NBA instituted its current 16-team postseason format for the 1984 NBA playoffs. The Heat even got outscored by 26 points in the regular season is the first team since at least 2000 to advance to the Conference Finals after posting a negative point differential in the regular season and is four wins away from becoming the first No. 8 seed to win a championship.
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Although the Panthers had the worst record of any postseason team during the regular season and only made the Cup playoffs by a single point, underdog runs are far more frequent in the NHL. Florida is the fifth No. 8 seed since 2006 to reach the Conference Finals and the Kings even won the Stanley Cup as a No. 8 seed back in 2012. The Panthers are eight wins away from becoming the second.
“It just shows it doesn’t matter what your team has done in years past, it doesn’t matter they’ve done in the season leading up to it,” Tkachuk said. “If you get going at the right time, that’s the team you want to be.”
Maybe the clearest similarity between the two is their attitude of their best player and how he transformed his team into a true contender.
In his four seasons in Miami, Butler has now led the Heat to three East finals and done it with a no-nonsense attitude and individual excellence, and by constantly agitating opponents.
In his first year in South Florida, Tkachuk now has the Panthers in their first East finals in 27 years and has done it with a no-nonsense attitude and individual excellence, and by constantly agitating opponents.
“It’s a great comparison,” Florida right wing Anthony Duclair said. “He’s got that same mentality and he’s been our MVP, just like Butler’s been the MVP for the Heat. We obviously wouldn’t be in this position without him, and I think the same thing for the Heat.”
Haslem, Duclair and more connections
Duclair had a frustrating amount of free time in December. It had been less than six months since he tore his left Achilles tendon and the winger was stuck watching his team struggle from the sidelines as he worked out, rehabilitated and tried to be ready to help the Panthers as soon as he got healthy.
He also took the time to really get to work on his outreach efforts, getting ready to launch a foundation to try to grow hockey in minority communities and Thomas Eugene — Florida’s senior director of diversity, equity, inclusion and multicultural affairs — suggested he get dinner with Udonis Haslem.
Duclair, one of the few Black players in the NHL, picked the Heat power forward’s brain about his work in the community, his love of his hometown — Haslem is from Miami — and how he was dealing with his concurrent Achilles injury.
They connected immediately.
“He’s a great guy and leader in this community,” said the 27-year-old winger, who’s from Canada and the child of Haitian immigrants. “I’m just happy to call him a friend.”
As the NBA and NHL seasons overlap, there isn’t much time for Heat and Panthers players to root for each other, but Haslem has become the biggest Florida fan on Miami’s roster.
Haslem also has a budding friendship with Panthers assistant general manager Brett Peterson and has developed an appreciation for hockey. Florida even invited the 42-year-old forward to bang the drum ahead of Game 3 of their second-round series with the Maple Leafs on May 7 in Sunrise.
The Panthers won in overtime and knocked off Toronto later in the week.
“I’m glad they won,” Haslem said. “If they didn’t win, I would have felt like they would have never allowed me to bang the drum again, but it’s just fun, man. The respect that I have, the love that this city and these people give me, is just unmatched. I was a little nervous. It’s the first time, obviously, doing something like that, but it was fun and they got the win, which is most important.
“My boy ‘Duke’ got a goal, so it couldn’t have been a better night for the Panthers and myself as a fan of the organization. I had a chance to meet the ownership. I’ve had a relationship with Brett, who’s the assistant GM and who’s an African American. There aren’t many Black assistant GMs in hockey, so I’ve known Brett since last year. I met ‘Duke’ last year, so I’ve built relationships over there. It’s authentic and it’s fun.”
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Haslem even brought some of his teammates with him to FLA Live Arena, including Gabe Vincent, Max Strus and Haywood Highsmith, among others.
“It’s amazing,” Haslem said of watching the Panthers’ playoff run. “Edge of my seat, up and down, can’t sit still. Just action-packed, physicality. All the things I’m really about.”
The biggest Miami fan on Florida’s roster might be All-Star center Aleksander Barkov, who was drafted by the Panthers when he was 17 and lived in South Florida ever since.
On Monday, the 27-year-old forward found out he’s All-Star center Bam Adebayo’s favorite player and lit up.
“Bam’s favorite player? Wow,” the captain said. “That’s awesome.”
What would the Miami star be like on a hockey rink?
“He’s like [6-foot-9 former All-Star defenseman Zdeno] Chara,” Barkov said, “good defensive player and probably has a bomb, too.”
The Heat and Panthers have already made their seasons among the most memorable in franchise history, but Haslem, who has been a part of each of the Heat’s first three championships, isn’t satisfied yet.
“It’s a good time,” Haslem said, “but I’m not going to let us off the hook. The goal is to win championships, so we still got work to do, everybody.”
