Looking high, low for info about Dion Waiters’ latest issue

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The Dion Waiters saga in Miami has taken a strange twist. After being fat shammed by most of NBA twitter for seemingly eating too many sweets while recovering from an ankle injury last season, his relationship with the Miami Heat took an even more sour turn this season. He was ultimately suspended by the Heat for conduct detrimental to the team, after his bench and Instagram comments about Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. And, even while being declared active, has not played for the team yet this season.

Now, on the team flight to Los Angeles, Waiters suffered a medical emergency when he overdosed on gummies according to Andy Slater of 640AM.ThTh

 

 

We certainly hope Waiters is OK, regardless of the circumstances.

The Heat have yet to comment further, as they returned Saturday and have a day off before preparing for Tuesday’s home game against Detroit.

While we wait, Twitter has been ruthless, as expected.

 

The guess here, however, is the Heat are not laughing.

More as it comes in.

National Media Pushes Dumb Jimmy Butler Narrative

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The national narrative about Jimmy Butler strikes again. After Miami defeated Phoenix last behind Jimmy Butler’s 34 points, he stepped into the winners’ circle with Jason Jackson.  

 

Jokingly he sent teammates Bam Adebayo and Meyers Leonard back to the locker room before getting he interviewed. When asked about the video bombs, Butler responded; “It’s not about them, It’s about me right now”.  

Of course, the national media had a field day with this as many took Butler’s comments out of context and responded with tweets calling him a “bad teammate.”  Even though Butler was clearly laughing throughout the video, people ripped him apart.  

These preset narratives of Butler being a bad teammate are absolutely ridiculous. Butler has preached being unselfish this year even saying last night that he spoke with coaches who wanted him to be more aggressive. He has embraced being a leader and took all the young players under his wing, especially rookie Tyler Herro whom he continues to have only great things to say about. 

 

 

The majority of the hate for Butler seems to comes from the manner in which he forced his way out of Minnesota. Critics deemed him a selfish teammate who only cared about his own personal benefit. This summer again didn’t help his image when he made his way down to South Beach. Philly fans tore Butler apart when he chose Miami over the 76ers who were a Kawhi Leonard bounce away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.

Many view this as Butler’s retirement tour. 

The national media will continue to tear Jimmy apart for even looking at the camera wrong but down here in South Florida we love how he has embraced the Culture and look forward to the future with him. 

As do his teammates…

Adam Gase is the Tanking Remedy

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Former Dolphins Head coach, Adam Gase, got embarrassed by his former team this weekend. The so-called “Offensive Guru” has had a rough start since his tenure with the Jets began. He is undoubtedly on the hot seat after a 1-7 start with a team that had such high expectations after spending boatloads of money acquiring high profile talent this offseason. 

 

His genius offensive play call has the Jets ranking 32nd in almost every major offensive category. His ability to be a Quarterback whisperer has Sam Darnold looking fantastic with six touchdowns and nine interceptions in five games this season. The whole appeal to hiring Gase was this so-called revolutionary offense that would have defensive coordinators terrified. 

 

Adam Gase is a complete fraud of a head coach with one fluke playoff run led behind Jay Ajayi’s monster run during his first season as a head coach. The Jets are going through absolute chaos as the media and fans have both completely turned on Gase. After being dismantled By the tanking Dolphins chants of “Fire Gase” ensued as he walked into the tunnel of Hard Rock Stadium. 

 

 

 

The absolute best thing Gase did Sunday though was sitting on the bench alone early In the fourth quarter looking as If he was scheming up some mastermind plan. This all happening while his team was trying to make a crucial stop to get back into the game. He looked like a fan watching the game rather than being a head coach. 

 

 

His press conference afterward was also memorable. He declined to comment on whether he deserved to be fired from Miami, which 100% he did deserve. After the loss, Gase was asked about the embarrassment of losing to the dolphins and stated “It’s the NFL. You can’t be embarrassed by this s***”. Maybe Gase plan all along was to screw the dolphins out of that first overall pick in April’s draft and I can say without a doubt no one in Miami misses this fraud of a head coach Adam Gase. 

 

 

Many media outlets have been extremely critical of this Dolphins season for their tanking tactics. Steve Young last week on Monday night football stated that the Dolphins are “putting people’s health at risk.” This morning on “Get Up” Pat McAffe offered an apology to the dolphins and ripped Coach Gase further saying “you lost to a team that is actively trying to lose.” The national media will continue to Scrutinize the Dolphins but they have gradually improved every week unlike our friend Adam Gase who continues to decline every week, losing to teams who “put players at risk.” 

Miami Dolphins Good Fortunes Last all of one day

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The Miami Dolphins earned their first victory of the 2019 season Sunday and all was well in South Florida sports.

 

For roughly 24 hours if that.

First news broke that wide receiver Preston Williams was being shut down for the season with a knee injury.

 

Williams finishes a breakout rookie season with 32 receptions for 428 yards and three touchdowns, two of those scores came in his final game Sunday against New York.

Adding company to the misery, at least for Dolphins’ fans stateside, it was also announced Miami would again be playing overseas next year.

 

Season ticket holders will again be losing a home game in Miami Gardens but there is good news, they’ll save about 12% on the cost of tickets!

Those same season ticket holders can forgo the International Series and enjoy just seven games against what would be likely a last place schedule.

But wait, there’s more…

On a busy news day, you might as well keep the hits coming.

 

Walton will be suspended for the next four games as a result of his three arrests in the offseason.

 

Walton was the new lead back after the departure of Kenyan Drake to Arizona. Kallen Ballage will now assume that role, look for more roster moves in the running back room as the week goes on.

After a resounding win against Adam Gase and the Jets, thankfully the 2019 Miami Dolphins have quickly returned to form we all know and love.

 

 

Miami Dolphins lose Preston Williams for rest of 2019 season

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The Miami Dolphins suffered a major injury loss on Monday.

The Miami Dolphins wide receiving unit has suffered a huge loss. Monday, an MRI revealed a season-ending knee injury for Preston Williams per multiple media reports. He is done for the season.

The rookie from Colorado State was really impressing over the course of the season. In what has been an up-and-down campaign for the Miami Dolphins, Williams has played well. Signing as an undrafted rookie, the Colorado state product made a good first impression in his opening season. He caught 32 passes for 428 yards and three touchdowns. His best game of the season came on Sunday against the Jets. He caught five passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns. Averaging 14.4 yards per reception, a 26-yard grab was his longest of the afternoon.

Williams was a player that made an impact from the get-go. In the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens, he caught three passes for 24 yards and a touchdown. In a season that has been all about rebuilding, he has been a bright spot.

Williams a key component of Miami Dolphins future

The next goal for Williams is to make sure that he gets healthy for the 2020 season. In a season where Miami is sending players packing in an effort to gain capital and rebuild, Williams looks to be a part of this organization for a long time. He has the potential to become a top target for the future. Hopefully, everything goes well during the rehab process so he can get back on the field as soon as possible.

The Miami Dolphins are going to need big contributions from two players specifically the rest of the way. Tight end Mike Gesicki is one of them, and wide receiver Devante Parker is the other.

Gesicki heads into Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts looking to build off his successful performance from last week. He had his best game of the season, catching six passes for 95 yards.  Parker had a great game as well, catching four passes for 57 yards and a touchdown. Those two will look to spearhead the Miami Dolphins passing offense for the foreseeable future.

This is certainly unfortunate news for the Miami Dolphins. Hopefully, Williams can come back even stronger in 2020. He is certainly a promising young player with a ton of talent. Here’s to hoping his recovery efforts go according to plan.

Tank That! Dolphins Beat Adam Gase’s Jets for 1st Win

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MIAMI GARDENS — You could see this coming.

Really, you could.

You didn’t even Adam Gase’s fancy, darting eyes.

The reasoning was simple. On one side you had a team that was clearly improving under its first-year coach, Brian Flores, even though the Dolphins were trading or idling their better players. On the other side, you had Gase, and a Jets team that had already tired of him. So this was somewhat predictable. Ryan Fitzpatrick is a capable NFL quarterback when he has time, and he had time just enough times Sunday, in a 26-18 victory. Gase is a fraud, and his time with the Jets may soon come to an end, after signing a long-term contract this offseason.

Even some players were calling their shot:

It didn’t start well for the Dolphins:

But then Fitzpatrick and Preston Williams started to connect:

And the defense settled in a little, after letting Jets second-year quarterback Sam Darnold get comfortable early…

Fitzpatrick, who has been plagued by inconsistency since training camp, continued to find targets on the outside…

Hey, it’s DeVante Parker….

A Jets touchdown got taken off the board on a coach’s challenge, but they still made it closer by halftime after a couple of Dolphins’ mistakes…

If you were rooting for the Dolphins to win — which wasn’t all of you — then you feared the worst…

The Dolphins, however, had a little juice in the running game, at least when Kallen Ballage (2.0 yards per carry this season) isn’t getting the suspicious calls….

The Jets coach tried to use his wizardry…

Some of the Dolphins’ most criticized players showed up, though. That included a defensive back who has seemingly been torched since preseason…

And then the Jets went full Jets….

So the Dolphins and Jets are now both 1-7.

Flores, who has done increasingly solid work, has his first victory.

Miami won’t join the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns as the only winless teams in modern NFL history.

Williams, Parker and Mike Gesicki (95 receiving yards) continued to show promise, as did linebacker Raekwon McMillan.

Fitzpatrick (24 of 36, 295 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) showed he may be worth keeping as a veteran backup next season, to whatever rookie the Dolphins draft.

That’s the good.

The bad?

The rookie may not be the one that fans wanted, not unless the Dolphins lose out, which won’t be easy with the Bengals and Jets still on the schedule.

The dream of Tua Tagliavailoa may be over.

Look for more content on the Dolphins here — and on Three Yards Per Carry.

FIU’s Olin Cushion III gets his Senior Day moment

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Senior Day is a special day in college football. It’s the last home game of the season and for the senior class, that means the last home game ever.

Makes the game even more special when the seniors are the main contributors to the home team’s victory. Senior quarterback James “Captain” Morgan and running back Napoleon Maxwell scored a rushing touchdown but senior defensive back Olin Cushion III put the finishing touches on FIU’s 24-17 win against Old Dominion with a last minute interception.

It was Cushion’s first interception of the season. He now has a pick in the last three seasons.

Cushion had been eyeing ODU quarterback Hayden Wolff like an eagle throughout the Monarchs last offensive drive of the game. He dove at a low pass from the freshman and scraped his arm on the turf field, causing him to bleed.

That didn’t stop Cushion from trying to distract Wolff by saying,  ‘Come on. Come on.’

“I was wiping blood everywhere,” Cushion said. [Fellow FIU safety] Dorian Hall tried to take my side of the field, but I said, ‘Nah, you can’t get this side. I need this side so the ref won’t see the blood and take me out.’

“The next thing I know, the ball was coming to me, and I ran up under it and slid on my knees.”

With the win, FIU is now a game away from bowl eligibility. The Panthers have made it to a bowl game in each season since Butch Davis took over as head coach starting in 2017. This senior class has the opportunity to be the first class to play in three bowl games, much less three straight.

The path to that sixth win will be hard. Their next opponent is the Shula Bowl at rival Florida Atlantic. Owls head coach Lane Kiffin has had the upper hand on Davis lately with two wins by a combined score of 101-38.

Then comes the game that Panthers fans have been waiting for, a local slugfest with the Miami Hurricanes at Marlins Park, the spot of the old Orange Bowl where the two programs infamously clashed a little over a decade ago. Even at Miami’s weaken state, nobody truly expects the Hurricanes to lose to FIU, or any non-power 5 team for that matter.

Finally Marshall, which currently shares the C-USA East Division lead with FAU at 4-1. FIU is 0-3 on the road this season, which is a streak that will have to end if the Panthers are going to go bowling. 

Surging Panthers ride Huberdeau, Barkov to easy win

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Something’s happening here.

After Saturday’s dominant, no-doubt 4-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings, the Florida Panthers have now won six of their past nine games. And this seems, well, real. They’ve survived the start of the season, which typically buries them, and they’ve done it with star Sasha Barkov struggling to score and hyped goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky posting a goals-against-average near four.

Both, however, were exceptional Saturday on a night the Panthers were without several regulars, including Vincent Trocheck.

Barkov hasn’t admitted to an injury, but he has appeared hobbled at times. Not Saturday. He was everywhere, from faceoffs to the crease, finishing with a goal and an assist — and four of the Panthers’ 41 shots. Bobrovsky wasn’t tested much after the opening few minutes, but stopped all 22 shots he saw.

So now the Panthers have 18 points through 14 games, compared to 15 points through 14 games last season and 10 points through 14 games the season prior.

Most importantly, they seem to be grasping Joel Quenneville’s system. The coach was beaming about how “clean” they played in their own end — very few chances, even fewer Red Wings left unmarked on rebounds.

Here are a few of the tweets from the game, and after:

Here are player videos:

 

 

And here’s a video from Michael “Dutch” Sonbeek, who covered the game with me for Five Reasons Sports.

Rousseau, Hurricanes’ Defense Storm Over FSU 27-10

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The Miami Hurricanes lived up to the hype and the nickname this week, storming into Tallahassee and crushing Florida State 27-10.

Gregory Rousseau was the catalyst of the Hurricanes defense, tallying another FOUR sacks in Tallahassee today.

Rousseau has a ridiculous seven sacks in his last two games and Miami found that attacking style defense which kept FSU off balance all afternoon.

Miami (5-4, 3-3) evened their ACC mark and put on their most complete performance of the season.

Jarren Williams made enough plays when it counted and finished 21-of-37 with a season high 313 yards and two long touchdowns. He continues to hold the ball too long and it hurt, Williams lost a fumble for the lone Miami turnover which gave Florida State some life.

The offensive line played their best game of the season by a mile, helped by quick passes and great blitz pickups by the running backs.

Dan Enos has been under fire for his play calling but dialed up some timely deep shots.

 

Miami was the more aggressive team for once and you could sense they did not want to let Florida State back into it late.

Jeff Thomas had a triumphant return from suspension, finishing with four catches for 64 yards including a 39-yard dime to open the scoring for Miami.

DeeJay Dallas finished with 61 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown, Cam Harris could not get it going today and actually lost five yards on just two carries.

Neither team could manage anything on the ground, Miami finished with just 40 net yards rushing. Florida State was even less effective, Miami shut down star running back Cam Akers most of the day.

Akers managed 66 yards on the ground but it took 22 carries for a paltry 3.0 yard average. He did add three receptions for 23 yards and a touchdown, but the Hurricanes made life tough for the junior running back.

Seminoles quarterback Alex Hornibrook (yeah that guy) was the latest victim of the Hurricanes pass rush which dropped him nine times on the day. Hornibrook managed just 135 yards on 17-of-31 attempts with one touchdown and an interception.

As usual with these two the defenses set the early tone and the game was chippy from the jump.

Both teams were jawing throughout the game, finally Miami came out with energy and fire from the opening whistle.

Manny Diaz (FSU alum) certainly had this game circled on the calendar day one and it showed, his fingerprints were all over the defensive game plan.

Florida State offensive coordinator Kendal Briles dialed up trick play after trick play with little success, Miami was more sound tackling and with assignment football than in recent weeks.

Shaq Quarterman (9 tackles, 3 TFL), Trevon Hall (4 tackles, sack), and Nestor Jade Silvera (6 tackles, sack) were a force for the front seven.

 

Penalties (6/65) and third down (3/15) continue to be a sore spot, but the Hurricanes were able to overcome them with timely efforts on both sides of the ball.

Special teams did their job today, Camden Price did miss one field goal but made his other two and all three extra points. KJ Osborn continues to be a solid and safe punt return option.

Lou Headley had five punts for a 44.8 yard average, including a 65-yard bomb to pin FSU near their goal line.

Miami now has three straight wins over Florida State and will carry a two game winning streak back to Miami Gardens when they host Louisville November 9th.

 

Follow us on Twitter for more Hurricanes coverage @SportsWaveDave and @CaneMaven. Subscribe to the 5 Rings Canes podcast for exclusive Canes content.

Photo by Tony Capobianco.

Breaking it Down: Nekias Duncan on Heat-Hawks II

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How is this happening?

How are the Miami Heat off to a 4-1 start with Jimmy Butler missing three games and playing passively on offense for most of the other two?

How are Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro doing this…. as rookies?

How is someone on a two-way contract, such as Chris Silva, contributing so much?

After the Heat’s latest win, this one 106-97 against the Hawks in Atlanta, Nekias Duncan (@NekiasNBA) does what he does: a comprehensive video breakdown on Twitter.

Duncan contributes to Five Reasons Sports Network from time to time, so look for more of his work here.

Still, this thread is worth your time, just like this Heat team: