Alex Solana, Miami Heat Radio Pre/Post Game Host

And welcoming Alex Solano does a great job pre and post on the Heat Radio Network on WQAM, and he's kind enough to join us once again. Solano, what's happening, man?

Oh, Zach, I gotta be honest, I'm a little disappointed. This one's headed back to Boston. I thought I'd have a nice eight-day vacation ahead of me, but Tatum and the rest of that squad decided, how about we knock down a couple threes in Game 4? And here we are, back to the TD Garden. Well, a little birdie told me you did some premature celebration and that you already had dinner lined up tonight with your lady friend. Where are you guys going?

That's my question. I want to know where you guys are going. Where's the big hot date tonight? Oh, no, we're just going to grab a couple pub subs at our local supermarket at Publix. Chicken tender subs. That's my hot date tonight.

That's what I got set up. Nah, nah, I'm just joking. We're headed to... You better be, because the pub sub, I would dump your ass if I was your girlfriend. No, we're headed to a nice Italian restaurant here in my area.

I live in Kendall, which is like Southwest Miami-Dade. It's just like a local restaurant here, but I was expecting a nice vacation. We're going to go sit down, watch the Panthers game tonight. They're trying to do the same thing that the Heat were unable to do last night, so I think Miami fans are a little disappointed that there was no trophy celebration last night. Panthers are going to win the Stanley Cup, by the way. Oh, that's a hot take.

I like it, though. They're playing like it right now, man. Is it really a hot take? They're up 3-0 in the conference final. I know that they're probably going to get Vegas, and Vegas is a tremendous team. They've been in the league for six years, and they've already been to four conference finals. And their one win away from going to their second Stanley Cup final drives me nuts. A team six years into the league is trying to do something I just hope my team could do one day, and that's eventually win a Stanley Cup, and they've been in as good a position as anybody. But this Panthers team isn't as bad as the way that they played at times this year, and I don't think they're that far off. And they're showing it now from that team a year ago, which ironically won the President's Trophy, as you know, and ended up getting swept out of the second round. Yeah, isn't it so funny? We keep talking about how, for the first time ever, two teams from the same area, because the Panthers don't play in Miami, two teams from the same area, the South Florida area, are in the Eastern Conference Finals that I don't believe it's ever happened before during the same sporting season.

But how about, you know the Spiderman meme, Zach, where it's just one Spiderman pointing at the other? How about both of these teams last year being the best in their conference? The Heat were the number one overall seed in the Eastern Conference, and the Panthers won the President's Trophy. And then, in exactly the exact same time of the year, the following year, both teams underachieved, they were both up and down, as mediocre as it gets, right? The epitome of mediocrity throughout the regular season. Both teams, at times, on the outside looking into the postseason, the Panthers were basically playing playoff hockey towards the middle of March, just so that they can clinch their way into a playoff position. And we know all about the Heat and how they lost to the Hawks in the plane tournament, and were down five with four minutes to go to the Bulls on the outside looking into the playoffs as well. And then both teams, as eight seeds, just pull off one of the most remarkable postseason runs from either of them, right? It's a conversation down here we're having all the time, which one has been more impressive, and I don't think there is a right answer.

I think both equally as impressive. So, it's crazy, and you're right, you know, picking the Panthers right now to win is not a hot take. I still think Vegas is going to end up being the favorites. But, with that being said, Bob Roski right now, I think I read a stat, he has scored on an insane amount of periods, so he's playing unbelievable hockey. We always talk about, or I always heard it being said, Zach, you know, in hockey it's all about getting the hot goaltending, and then that will prove to be pivotal going into the playoffs.

And I always kind of just thought that was a cliche, right? Something people said when you're talking about hockey. Well, I'm finally watching it now, and it's coming to fruition. I'm seeing what hot goaltending can do to a team. It's been a hell of a ride watching the Panthers do what they're doing. And your best players in your top six are showing up as well, so that's enormous, and you see what Kuchuk has been able to do, and in both those games out in Carolina, which is a tough building to play and get victories, they've been tremendous at home in the postseason the last few years.

Alex Alana here with us. To answer your question, I would say that the Heat are more impressive, because this happened so many times in hockey, where a team just gets in the postseason, they find a way to get on a run. You mentioned that the Heat were down in the second playing game with the few minutes left, and now they're one win away from going to the NBA Finals.

It's just crazy. But then you could also argue Florida was down 3-1 to Boston, who had the most points and the most wins in the history of the league. Yeah, and with the Heat, for me, as somebody down here, I never really followed the Panthers too closely until I started working for the flagship, which is where I work now, 560. I've always been somebody that kept a very close eye on the Miami Heat, and they've really been the only organization down here that has continued to win. Since the time I was a young kid in 2006, I was in fifth grade, and the Miami Heat were winning titles, and they were contending for them since the time they went out and they got Shaq. Even after that, I know the Miami Heat went through that period three or four years prior to the Big Three, but they refused to tank. It was this idea that they were going to try to always field the most competitive possible team that they can. Even after the Big Three, they stuck with that, and it's paid off for them. Three separate eras and 17 years, they've had opportunities to go to the Finals. Forty percent of the time, the Eastern Conference Finals winner in the last 17 years has been Miami, if they can pull it off this year.

That is remarkable. That's just winning at its finest on a consistent level that South Florida hasn't seen since Dan Marino, and even prior to that, since the Dolphins. You want to talk about mediocrity? It's been the Dolphins in my lifetime for the past two-plus decades, which is why people are so hyped about Tua. I expected something like this from the Heat.

Not necessarily what transpired, but this type of performance. You would say, okay, it makes sense with Miami because they're so stable, and they've had the head coach that has blossomed here out of the video room. With the Panthers, I mean, they've kind of been a laughingstock in the National Hockey League. Even last year, the Tampa Bay Lightning just proved, again, they're their daddies, and it didn't matter what the Panthers did. Cute little President's Trophy run.

Well, guess what? Here come the big, bad Lightning who own you four hours north to the west. So, for me, it was the Panthers to put this on, and by the way, they announced Bill Zito today, a finalist for the General Manager of the Year Award in the NHL. I mean, you want to talk about guts, trading your all-time points leader in franchise history and Jonathan Huberto to bring in Matthew Tkachuk, probably a guy 70% of the fan base hadn't even heard of, just because that's how people cover hockey down here in South Florida, and he has turned into a total badass for this organization. So, for me, it's the Panthers. Like, this really is an improbable run, down three games to one.

It's something that I don't think people were expecting down here, and they really are the talk of the town right now. Alex Solana, is the Heat fan nervous today? They're up 3-0. They lose the game last night. It's still 3-1. Do you sense some nervousness from the Heat fan today?

I don't think so, and most of the techs that were coming in, we didn't take any calls, but most of the techs that were coming in were, hey, Bam Adebayo has to wake up, and things of that nature, everybody kind of picking on Bam. But I just think yesterday, you look at the Celtics, that third quarter that they put together, it's what I was expecting in Game 3. They were down 15. That's not an impossible deficit to overcome, and the Celtics, to me, just look like they kind of quit on Joe Mazzola, and part of it is the Heat were just playing spectacular and hitting all their 3s. What I saw from the Celtics yesterday is what I was expecting to see from the Celtics in Game 3, and it never came. They shoot 57%, 25 of 44 from 3 in that second half. I mean, that's the type of Celtics team I was expecting to see at some point this series. They generated 19 wide open 3s in Game 4. Anthony Chang, who covers the Heat team, he posted this earlier today. They were averaging just 14 wide open 3s per game in the first 3 games of this series. So, I was expecting it at some point. Celtics are a good team, right?

Everybody knows that. The fact that the Heat were up 3-0, stole the first 2, I think surprised a lot of people down here, and you don't sweep very good teams easily. And yesterday, the Heat, what they failed, what they did so well through the first 3 games, besides shooting the basketball, they shot just 35% in the second half, was executing down the stretch. And even after an 18-0 run from Boston, and even after lights-out shooting from Boston in the second half, the Heat, early in that fourth, they still had their opportunity. It was a 5-point game, and it was like a 12-point game.

They had to score, and they turned it over. They just played, you know, the type of basketball they hadn't been playing in this postseason, which is why they're up 3-0. I don't think Heat fans are nervous. I don't think people think down here, Boston can sustain that level of shooting, because they haven't through the first 3 games. And I think Jimmy Butler kind of calmed everybody. He said, hey, we'll get some wine, we'll get some beer, we'll settle down, and we'll go win one on the road. Yeah, and you know Butler will show that killer instinct. I don't think it will happen in Game 5. I'm going to go Heat in 6, but I got to bounce. I hear the music playing. Alex Alana from the Heat Radio Network, we appreciate you as always. Thank you, Zach.