Florida Owns Boston

[EDGECRUSHER]

First time ever that a Florida team beat a Boston team in Game 7 on the road in both NBA and NHL, not to mention being 8 seeds.

To be fair, this might be the first time an opportunity like this ever happened, but it's still fun to see. Both teams can easily win their championships as seeding obviously didn't matter this time around.

[Dave Gray]

I have been watching both of these series, as a fan of both teams.  I'm definitely more familiar with the HEAT and basketball, in general, but hockey has been fun, too.

I think that the HEAT are going to have a tough time.  They have a great story and are well coached and scrappy, but you just gotta think at some point, that raw talent and big name players matter.  The HEAT were not a very good team for most of the year.  They've been proving a lot of people wrong and I hope it continues, but I do think it's possible that this series isn't even competitive.

For the Panthers, I just don't know.  I don't know a ton about hockey, but it seems to me that the Panthers are riding a hot goaltender and good defense.  Even though they swept the last series, every game was on the razor's edge.

It's going to be a busy few weeks, as there's almost a finals game on every night.

[EDGECRUSHER]

The Heat are very well coached and have decent talent, but they've also been pretty lucky. Giannis missing game sin the first round was huge. The second round vs. the Knicks was more about outcoaching the incompetent Tom Thibodeau and his inability to make adjustments. That win goes all to Erik Spoelstra. Last round against Boston was a combo but they did get lucky in Game 7 when Jayson Ttaum hurt his ankle on the first play and was basically a non-factor the rest of the game.

Still, there is no such thing as a championship team with bad luck. You have to take advantage of the opportunities given and that's what the Heat have done. The Nuggets are definitely better but you just gotta win 4.

[Brian Fein]

Rod Brind'Amour got a lot of crap for saying in the media that it "wasn't a sweep" - which of course it was a sweep, but I understand his statement when you put it into context.  each game of that sweep could have gone either way.  The Panthers just flipped "heads" 4 times in a row.

I think the Panthers have a tough road ahead.  They have won games on defense but Vegas has a dynamic scoring lineup and could break through.  It depends on how Bobrovsky comes out of this time off - he'll either be rested and hot or will have cooled off and give up 4 per game.  Panthers need to take Adin Hill to task as well, 20 shots per game won't cut it.  They were averaging almost 37 shots on goal per game in the regular season.

Its really nice to have this thing over Boston though.  Now just need the Dolphins to win a game at Foxborough to knock the Patriots out of the playoffs.

[Dave Gray]

Last round against Boston was a combo but they did get lucky in Game 7 when Jayson Ttaum hurt his ankle on the first play and was basically a non-factor the rest of the game.

This is such a bullshit excuse that I'm tired of seeing.

Tatum got hurt.  Big fucking deal.  Herro isn't even playing.  Nor Olidipo.  And Gabe Vincent rolled his ankle and missed a game, too.

The Celtics were lucky to have even been in a game 7.

And it's not like they barely lost.  They got blown the fuck out.

[CF DolFan]

For the Panthers, I just don't know.  I don't know a ton about hockey, but it seems to me that the Panthers are riding a hot goaltender and good defense.  Even though they swept the last series, every game was on the razor's edge.

The team has been saying to be patient as this team is built for the playoffs and not the regular season. Last year was the complete opposite.  As a very casual hockey fan I'm not 100 percent sure what that means but it certainly appears that is the case. The Tkachuk/Huberdeau trade was huge.

[Brian Fein]

The team has been saying to be patient as this team is built for the playoffs and not the regular season. Last year was the complete opposite.  As a very casual hockey fan I'm not 100 percent sure what that means but it certainly appears that is the case. The Tkachuk/Huberdeau trade was huge.

On its surface, Panthers fans wanted to burn the arena down after that trade.  How dare they trade Huberdeau, he's untouchable...!  But people quickly realized that he's a great SUPPORTING player, but he's not a guy that can carry a team.  Matthew Tkachuk is.

Then people wanted to fire Paul Maurice within a month of the season starting.  Get him out of here, he sucks.  But now no one says that and people are laughing at his press conferences.

People wanted to buy out Bob's contract, and now the people are chanting his name.

In the end it seems that a lot of Panthers fans don't really know what they want.

[Dave Gray]

^ HEAT fans are the same.

Jimmy was Jordan's secret kid up until game 4.

Then, in a matter of a couple of games he was a poser fraud.

Sports on general message boards with tons of people (like Reddit or Facebook) are a reactionary toilet.  There is no real insight....just rage that gets upvoted in the moment.  It's whichever way the wind is blowing that day.