How the Heat have stopped Trae Young, plus the Nets have run out of time to fix things

Also, we probably aren't going to see Ben Simmons at all this postseason

By Zachary Pereles

Apr 25, 2022 at 9:01 am ET • 6 min read

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Happy Monday, all. Hope you're doing well.

We have a lot to catch up on, so let's get right to it.

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Good morning to everyone but especially to...

THE MIAMI HEAT

They may not have the biggest stars, get the biggest headlines or, in yesterday's game, even have one of their best players. But the Miami Heat are just fine doing it their own way. On Sunday, they showed that once again, dominating the Hawks, 110-86.

Jimmy Butler poured in 36 points and snared 10 rebounds.
All five Miami starters scored in double figures.
The Heat did this despite Kyle Lowry sitting out with a hamstring injury and the Hawks' Clint Capela returning from a knee injury.

While Butler carried the Heat offense, Miami's defense on Trae Young is what's really standing out. Atlanta's star point guard scored just nine points on 3-for-11 shooting and had a plus/minus of -27. So far this series, Young...

Is scoring 16.5 points per game
Has as many assists (24) as turnovers
Is shooting 35 percent from the field
Is shooting 21 percent on 3-pointers

Young stole the show last postseason, when the Hawks beat the Knicks and the 76ers to reach the Eastern Conference Finals. This time around, though, the Heat are putting on "a clinic" on how to quash any Atlanta upset hopes before they start, writes NBA scribe Brad Botkin.

Botkin: "The Hawks made one desperate run to pull out Game 3, but Miami has been throughout this series, and is, the far superior team. It was never going to lose without beating itself or getting upended by a Trae Young hurricane. The Heat have guarded against both, and now they're one win from a first-round victory. "

... AND ALSO A GOOD MORNING TO MIGUEL CABRERA

Welcome to the 3K club, Miguel Cabrera! On Saturday, the Tigers legend became the 33rd player in MLB history to reach 3,000 career hits. After going 0-3 and then being intentionally walked in his final plate appearance Thursday and seeing Friday's game postponed for weather, Cabrera wasted no time Saturday, singling through the right side to reach the milestone.

Cabrera is just the seventh player in MLB history with 3,000 career hits and 500 career home runs, joining...

Hank Aaron
Alex Rodriguez
Albert Pujols
Willie Mays
Rafael Palmeiro
Eddie Murray

It was awesome to see Cabrera reach 3,000 in Detroit, where he has played since 2008, won two MVPs (2012, 2013) and captured a Triple Crown (2012). Plenty of MLB stars shared their congratulations as well. Now the question becomes "Who's next to reach 3,000?" Our MLB expert Matt Snyder has 10 candidates, including...

Snyder: "Rafael Devers -- He's 25 and has 615 hits. And though we often think of players getting to 3,000 hits as those who string together 200-hit seasons, Miguel Cabrera has only one of those. Devers already has one, as he clubbed 201 hits in 2019. If he can approach 1,000 hits by the end of his age-27 season, we have a great candidate right here."

Honorable mentions

The Pelicans used a big second half to sink the Suns in Game 4, 118-103, and even up series at 2-2
Tyson Fury TKO'ed Dillian Whyte to retain his WBC heavyweight title.
Caleb Love is returning to UNC, cementing the Tar Heels' place atop Gary Parrish's Top 25 And 1.
Nijel Pack, the No. 2 player in our men's college basketball transfer portal rankings, is headed to Miami and getting one heck of an NIL deal.

And not such a good morning for...

NEW YORK YANKEES FANS WHO THREW TRASH ON THE FIELD

The Yankees swept the Guardians over the weekend, but a select few Bronx Bombers fans should be ashamed of what went down at Yankees Stadium after they pelted Guardians players with trash following New York's walk-off win Saturday.

Things began to escalate after New York's Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a double over Cleveland outfielder Steven Kwan's head. Kwan went crashing into the wall, and taunts rained down as he was attended to by trainers.
Cleveland's Myles Straw then climbed the wall and confronted hecklers.
After Gleyber Torres' walk-off hit, Yankees fans threw trash at Straw and Oscar Mercado, only stopping after Yankees stars Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton told them to.

I don't have a ton to add here. It's not that hard to act like an adult. Celebrate a great come-from-behind win with your fellow fans instead of, I don't know, throwing trash?! Again, it's not that difficult. Let's do better.

Not so honorable mentions

Angel Hernandez is bad at his job, and Kyle Schwarber got ejected for it.
Eloy Jiménez is the latest White Sox player to be injured.
The Giants are reportedly already trying to trade 2021 first-round pick Kadarius Toney.
Bears wide receiver Byron Pringle was arrested and charged with reckless driving.

It turns out Ben Simmons won't play tonight 🏀

If the Nets' season ends tonight, it will end without Ben Simmons ever touching the floor for Brooklyn. After reports indicated he would return for tonight's Game 4, Simmons reportedly woke up with back pain yesterday morning and was ruled out later in the day. The Nets are currently down 3-0 in their series against the Celtics.

Simmons has not played at all this season for either the 76ers or for the Nets, who acquired him in a blockbuster trade that sent James Harden to Philadelphia. Now, with only one loss standing between them and the end of their season, the Nets will again be without the mercurial forward. Given the situation, Simmons' absence will certain raise some eyebrows, writes Botkin.

Botkin: "Simmons' desire to actually play basketball again, when weighed in conjunction with his mental health, is going to be a major story over the offseason, but for right now, whatever the reason, this is a logical decision to sit him for Game 4. The series is over. Allow him to hopefully come back completely fresh, mentally and physically, for training camp and the start of next season, when Brooklyn can hopefully see some return on the massive investment it made in Simmons."

It's just another thing that hasn't gone the Nets' way this season -- some out of their control, some self-inflicted -- but down 3-0, Brooklyn has finally run out of time to fix things, writes our NBA reporter James Herbert. Oh, and a quick reminder: No team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 series deficit.

Cantlay, Schauffele go wire-to-wire at Zurich Classic ⛳

As it turns out, putting two of the world's best players on a team is a pretty good idea. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele combined to shoot a record-setting 29-under to win the Zurich Classic in wire-to-wire fashion.

The dynamic duo opened the week with an opening-round best-ball 59 on Thursday, followed by an alternate-shot 68 on Friday. They then shot a best-ball 60 on Saturday before closing things out with an alternate-shot 72 yesterday. They finished two strokes ahead of Sam Burns and Billy Horschel.

It's Cantlay's seventh PGA Tour win and Schauffele's fifth, and they're forming quite the tandem, writes golf expert Kyle Porter.

Porter: "The Cantlay-Schauffele partnership has become, perhaps somewhat improbably, a fixture in professional golf. From the Presidents Cup in 2019 where they went 2-2-0 to the Ryder Cup in 2021 where they went 2-0-0 in alternate shot to this tournament last year when they finished T11 all the way to this year's championship, they seem to genuinely enjoy playing with one another as much as they enjoy being around one another. That's rare in professional golf and even more so at the highest level with two players ranked in the top 12 in the world."