the NBA: A top star welcome a new baby With their win in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday
With their win in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday, the Florida Panthers became the first professional sports club from the Miami region to win a championship in the twenty-first century.
Vice City’s run of victories since the year 2000 may not have equaled Boston’s, but the Panthers’ first championship now gives the region six overall.
Among the five major sports leagues, the Miami Dolphins are the only Miami team that hasn’t won a championship since 2000. Since December 30, 2000, the Dolphins have not even prevailed in a postseason game.
Since 2003, when they were still the Florida Marlins, MLB’s Miami Marlins have not gone past the NLDS; nevertheless, in that same season, they captured their second World Series. In 1997, the Marlins’ fifth season of play, they won their first World Series.
Since 2000, the Miami Heat have been among the NBA’s most consistently outstanding teams, taking home three Larry O’Brien awards in that time.
The Heat won their first championship in 2006 under the direction of Hall of Fame guard Dwyane Wade. During their four seasons together, Wade, LeBron James, and fellow Hall of Famer Chris Bosh won back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013.
The Panthers have qualified for the playoffs five times in a row, having only made the playoffs twice from 2001 and 2019. They advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023 for the second time in the team’s history (and for the first time since 1996), however they were defeated in five games by the Vegas Golden Knights. In the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, Paul Maurice’s team almost gave up a 3-0 series lead but managed to upset the Edmonton Oilers.
After having the third-worst record in the league in 2023, Inter Miami CF, who had only entered MLS in 2020, signed superstar Lionel Messi in July of last year. Two months later, they became the Leagues Cup winners.
