Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley meet Larry O’Brien.
We can dream, can’t we? But just having those two iconic pieces of hardware on display in the same area, at the same time, as the Florida Panthers attempt to have their names etched onto the Stanley Cup for the first time and the Miami Heat seek their fourth Larry O’Brien Trophy, is surreal.
Now, to have Matthew Tkachuk and Jimmy Butler tossing each other a trophy during a dual championship celebration boat parade on the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale or Biscayne Bay (or both, why not?), that would be …
Well, it would make spring break on Fort Lauderdale Beach and the Ultra Music Festival in Miami each look like a ‘normal tourist visit.’
If you are wondering, yes, two teams from the same area have reached the NBA and Stanley Cup finals in the same year. In fact, it’s happened a surprising nine times.
So not a big deal, right?
Wrong! Do not let that diminish the historical implications of what we are experiencing in South Florida when the Heat open the NBA Finals Thursday in Denver and the Panthers play Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals Saturday in Las Vegas.
The Heat and Panthers both are four wins from a championship. Sure, that’s happened before. But never has the NBA or NHL had two No. 8 seeds playing for a title in the same year … never mind from the same city. And to get there, both stunned the two teams with the best record in the league, the Bucks in the NBA and the Bruins in the NHL.
The Panthers are just the third No. 8 seed to make the finals since the NHL playoffs went to a new format in 1994. The Heat are the second team seeded eighth to play for the championship in the NBA.
The L.A. Kings are the only No. 8 seed in either league to win the championship, hoisting the cup in 2012.
Beating the odds
Neither team was on the radar to win a championship when the playoffs started, the Panthers at 110-to-1 or 0.9 percent, the Heat at 55-to-1 or 1.79 percent.
Tkachuk and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra could have been speaking for both teams with these quotes:
Tkachuk: “I still think not many people believe, I mean, the people in this area support and believe in us — but there’s not many people out there that do, still.”
Spoelstra: “There’s been nothing easy about this season.”
Spoelstra was right … until he wasn’t. Because in the biggest game of the year, it suddenly got remarkably easy. Beating Boston. The No. 2 seed. In Game 7. By 19 points. On their home court.
And in the same building the Panthers completed their comeback from trailing the opening-round series, 3-1, by beating Boston. The No. 1 seed. In Game 7. In overtime.
In Baked-Beantown.
Get ready for 4-day adrenaline rush
South Florida joins Boston (three times), New York (twice), Philadelphia, Chicago, Northern New Jersey and the Bay Area as the regions to send franchises to the NBA and NHL finals in the same year.
But only will South Florida be able to say they hosted finals games on four consecutive nights.
The Heat and Panthers start on the road. When they return home for Games 3 and 4, South Florida will experience the greatest four-day sports stretch in its history.
Beginning June 7, the two teams will alternate home games for four nights. The Heat at the Kaseya Center (June 7, 9) and Panthers at FLA Live Arena (June 8, 10).
Others have played four games in five nights — Boston with the Celtics and Bruins in 1957, New York with the Knicks and Rangers in 1972, the Bay Area with the Warriors and Sharks in 2016 — but none have had a four-day non-stop adrenaline rush.
Lord Stanley, Sir Larry side-by-side?
The Stanley Cup is 34.25 inches, weighs 34.5 pounds and is made of silver and nickel alloy.
The Larry O’Brien trophy is two-feet tall, weighs 15.5 pounds and is made of sterling silver and vermeil with a 24 karat gold overlay.
Both would look great on display together — perhaps on Los Olas Blvd before carefully being transported to Ocean Drive — when these two series ends. It has never happened before. Four times teams from the same area lost in the NBA and NHL finals, but never have both teams raised a banner in the same season.
How will South Florida become the first? Here’s how:
The Heat will win in 7, and become the first NBA team to complete a comeback after falling behind 0-3.
The Panthers will sweep the Golden Knights, and end the playoffs winning 15-of 16.
Enjoy the ride.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Heat, Florida Panthers make South Florida center of the sports universe
