Sports Update Monday: Heat Second Round, NFL Draft & Fernandez Shines in Weekly Round-Up

On this week’s Sports Update Monday, I will be giving you a weekly sports round-up. I will spotlight the major stories or events that happened last week in South Florida sports.

Heat Look to Start Fresh Against Nets After Rough Regular Season

Having advanced to play Miami by ousting Toronto in seven games, Brooklyn enters this Eastern Conference semifinal emboldened by its 4-0 record against the Heat in the regular season, but also knowing, as Nets forward Paul Pierce said Sunday, that the Heat “is a different team in the playoffs.” Nobody on either side reads too much into the Nets’ season sweep, which included three wins by one point and another in double overtime.

Remember that the Heat went 1-3 in the regular season against Boston and 0-3 against Chicago in 2010-11, then eliminated both in five-game playoff series. In 2011-12, Miami again went 1-3 against Boston during the regular season, then ousted the Celtics in a seven-game Eastern Conference finals. “Regular season doesn’t indicate anything,” LeBron James said, speaking in general after Sunday morning’s practice. “You have more time to prepare” in the postseason.

Thursday’s NFL Draft Boasts Big-Time Names and Potentially Big-Time Ratings

NFL general managers are not the only executives seeking franchise quarterbacks. Both ESPN and NFL Network suits have been looking forward to this draft for some time given the number of boldfaced names at the quarterback position including Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, who has received the kind of media coverage usually reserved for a Kardashian.

The pre-draft storylines involving Manziel, Blake Bortles, Derek Carr and Teddy Bridgewater are expected to provide a nice viewership bump for the NFL draft-airing networks: Last year ESPN’s first round coverage averaged 6.61 million viewers, down seven percent from the 2012 draft (which featured Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Ryan Tannehill and Brandon Weeden). The NFL Network’s first-round coverage last year averaged 1.5 million viewers, up seven percent over 2012 though factor in that the network was in 71.2 million U.S. homes in April 2013 versus 59.1 million in April 2012.

This year’s draft viewership will also be aided by the event moving back two weeks from its usual start date. That’s two additional weeks of conjecture, mock drafts, and publicity for the annual Goodellapoolza.

Marlins Fernandez Wins NL Pitcher of the Month Award

Jose Fernandez didn’t get the win Sunday against the Dodgers, but he did pick up the National League’s Pitcher of the Month award for March/April. The Marlins’ 21-year old ace went 4-1 with a 1.59 ERA, 55 strikeouts and eight walks over his first six starts of the season. In Sunday’s 5-4 win over the Dodgers he was in line to pick up his fifth win before A.J. Ramos blew the save in the ninth. Fernandez leads all of baseball with 65 strikeouts. He had 10 in Sunday’s effort, the seventh time in his career he’s reached double digits in Ks. Last year, he was named NL Rookie of the Month for July and August en route to winning the National League’s Rookie of the Year award.