Achievers

MIAMI — As he prepared for a Wednesday night return after five games away from the team, Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler said two disparate perspectives can be true: — He wants to play as many games as possible. — But he also knows when he can’t play. Butler said that proved to be the case with the illness that took him off the court early in the Heat’s Dec.

Someone ignoring the annual warnings about firing bullets into the air to celebrate New Year’s Day killed a girl, Miami-Dade police say. Her name was Yanelis Munuguia. She’s just turned 10 years old on Thursday. Early investigation says Yanelis “was struck by a stray bullet fired into the air from an unknown location by an unknown subject,” Miami-Dade police said. Read more at Miami Herald.

By BRETT MARTEL NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame has been postponed after a truck plowed into a New Year’s crowd about a mile away early Wednesday, killing at least 10 people. The game, originally scheduled for Wednesday night at the 70,000-seat Superdome, has been pushed back 24 hours to Thursday night. “For now, that’s the plan,” Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said. The Superdome was on lockdown for security sweeps on Wednesday morning, when people with offices in the Superdome — including officials with the Sugar Bowl and Sun Belt Conference — were told not to come into work until further notice. Some credentialed Superdome employees were permitted into offices by Wednesday afternoon. The casualties occurred when a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day.

MIAMI GARDENS — We all know the Dolphins’ season isn’t over. The Dolphins (8-8) could win Sunday’s finale against the New York Jets, qualify for the playoffs, and then they could go up to Buffalo and win their wild-card playoff game. That’d be great. But it wouldn’t change any of the main takeaways from the past year, one of those being that this team is poorly constructed. With that in mind, here are 10 truths and five lies about the 2024 Miami Dolphins. Truths 1.

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MIAMI — When it comes to some of the players he plays the least, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra sees nothing other than a wealth of riches. To that end, he warns that just because his team’s prospects haven’t been cashing in with playing time doesn’t mean the Heat in any way are cashing out. Patience, Spoelstra preaches. “Our young guys, I love them,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat opening the new year with a Wednesday night game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Kaseya Center.