Tim Reynolds | Associated Press

Gabe Vincent scored 23 points, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo each scored 21 as the Heat dug deep to overcome a monster effort from Nikola Jokic and beat the Denver Nuggets 111-108 on Sunday night.

Matthew Tkachuk scored a power-play goal with 4.9 seconds left, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 36 shots to cap off a brilliant series, and the Florida Panthers earned their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 27 years by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 to win the Eastern Conference title in a sweep.

When Paul Maurice stepped down as coach of the Winnipeg Jets in December 2021, it wasn’t clear if he would take another job. Some teams called. He’d listen. He’d then hang up the phone still convinced that his time would be better spent continuing to fish for walleye on Lake of the Woods, where he has a little spot. And then the Florida Panthers called.

Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem is toward the end of what has been a 20-year NBA career.

One of the best rivalries within the sport gets rekindled Saturday, with Florida State (5-3, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) coming to Miami (4-4, 2-2) to play before a prime-time national television audience. Neither team is ranked — the third time in the last four FSU-Miami meetings that’s been the case — yet the history between the programs still makes this compelling.

Not this time. After being thwarted on the doorstep of the NBA Finals three other times in the previous five seasons, the Boston Celtics have broken through. The beasts of the East, again.

The University of Miami is letting go of its head football coach while hiring a new one. Manny Diaz was fired Monday after the team underachieved in recent years. Oregon coach and former Hurricane, Mario Cristobal has replaced him

NBA players decided Thursday that they want to continue the season, coming to that consensus one day after three postseason games were postponed in a protest of racial injustice. It was not clear yet when the season would resume, according to one of the people who spoke to AP.