New Focus On … Photo Challenge Is #abj_july4

MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Saturday  night’s 104-84 NBA playoff loss to the Boston Celtics: – The outlier became evident on Saturday night. – When the shorthanded Heat are at their best and the favored Boston Celtics are at their worst, you get Wednesday night’s stunning, hot-shooting Heat victory at TD Garden. – When the Celtics play to the pedigree of the top regular-season record in the NBA, you get last Sunday’s Boston home romp and then Saturday’s road thrashing of the Heat. – Even with Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier, the Heat would have had their hands full. – Without either, there just isn’t a lot there. – Butler still out with his knee issue, Rozier with his neck ailment. – From the outset Saturday, it was clear that the Celtics were going to make Game 2 Tyler Herro’s best game of the series. – Similarly, the Celtics made sure Saturday that Game 2 would stand as Kristaps Porzingis’ worst of the series. – It was as if Herro lost his way as a playmaker Saturday and Porzingis found his way to again stand tallest. – And while Erik Spoelstra dialed up every winning stratagem in his book in Game 2, the Celtics showed that talent ultimately trumps all. – As in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Porzingis, as well as Jrue Holiday being back to his pesky defensive best, on a night his offense wasn’t needed. – At the start of the series there was mockery that the Heat wouldn’t even win one. – Now the odds feel even longer that they won’t win another. – Which typically is how it is for No.

MIAMI — The Boston Celtics offered a reminder Saturday night at Kaseya Center of why they finished the season with the NBA’s best record and entered this opening-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Miami Heat as overwhelming favorites. While there won’t be a sweep after the Heat’s shocking Game 2 victory Wednesday night at TD Garden, there might yet be the expected four blowouts. Saturday, there was another one, with the Celtics pushing their lead to 29 on the way to a 104-84 decision to put them up 2-1 in this best-of-seven matchup.

After the Miami Dolphins completed their seven-player draft class with five picks Saturday, the team’s brass got to work on bringing in their top remaining prospects as undrafted free agents. One target they reached an agreement with is one of the more intriguing players in the 2024 class, Bayron Matos, a USF basketball player from the Dominican Republic who walked on to the football team but never played in any games. Along with Matos, the Dolphins are signing, according to a league source: FAU wide receiver Je’Quan Burton, Louisville cornerback Storm Duck, Syracuse defensive back Isaiah Johnson, Ohio State offensive lineman Matthew Jones, UCLA defensive lineman Grayson Murphy, TCU safety Mark Perry, Texas-El Paso quarterback Gavin Hardison and his center at UTEP, Andrew Meyer.

TAMPA — Steven Stamkos scored his fourth and fifth goals of the series and the Tampa Bay Lightning avoided elimination with a 6-3 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the first-round playoff matchup Saturday night. Game 5 is Monday night at Florida. Only four times in 206 tries has an NHL team rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to win a series. “The odds aren’t great being down 3-zip,” Stamkos said.

MIAMI GARDENS — There’s muted excitement regarding the Miami Dolphins’ 2024 draft, and with good reason. It doesn’t seem that the Dolphins, who had first- and second-round picks for the first time since 2021, didn’t move the needle much among their fans. There’s a perception, correctly or incorrectly, that the Dolphins’ 2024 draft is preparing the team to make a playoff run in 2025 — not 2024. Here’s a closer look at each of the Dolphins’ draftees and how they might fit into the team:  Edge rusher Chop Robinson, Penn State, first round (No.

Javion Cohen left Alabama, which consistently puts players in the NFL, to come to Miami for his final season. The decision worked out, as the Cleveland Browns reportedly signed Cohen after the NFL draft ended on Saturday, according to Bleacher Report. “I feel like I was blessed and anointed for this position,” Cohen said at Miami’s Pro Day in March.