French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo says the tournament's prime slots are now "more balanced" between men and women.

The night-session match is promoted as the highlight of the day at Roland Garros.

But Aryna Sabalenka's fourth-round contest against Sloane Stephens last Sunday was the only women's match scheduled at night this year.

World number three Jessica Pegula told BBC Sport that the lack of women's matches in the night sessions was "disappointing".

But Mauresmo, who is in her second year in the role after a successful playing career in which she won two Grand Slam titles, defended the scheduling.

"We have numbers to support that, apart from the night sessions, the prime slots were much more balanced between men and women, so that is something for us that is definitely important," she said.

"I'm comfortable with the scheduling on the day, but yes, we can do better on the night matches.

"My point is this year that we put definitely way more women's matches on the prime slots. It doesn't make it perfect yet, because of these night matches that are unique.

"I hear that she [Pegula] is disappointed with that. I just also want to say that some of the high-profile women's players who would be our choices to put in the night matches are not really keen to go at night and are having different requests."

Former French Open winner and ex-BBC presenter Sue Barker acknowledged that it was a "tricky situation" for Mauresmo, but added that the women's game needed more big rivalries to grow interest in the sport.

"Sadly, now with Serena [Williams] having gone, there aren't the big names in the women's game at the moment. They've got to build up," she told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

Mauresmo backs Paris atmosphere

Mauresmo also backed the Roland Garros crowd after a number of incidents during the tournament and said no player had said anything about crowd behaviour.

American Taylor Fritz was booed in his post-match interview after his second-round win over home favourite Arthur Rinderknech and shushed the crowd, while world number one Novak Djokovic felt their wrath at the end of his semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz.

Russian Daria Kasatkina was also booed at the end of her fourth-round match against Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.

Kasatkina, who has spoken out against Russia's war in Ukraine, gave a thumbs-up to her opponent, knowing she would stick to her policy of not shaking hands with Russian or Belarusian players.

"There has been no feedback on this specific topic from our tour supervisors, or even the ATP or WTA officials that are here on-site throughout the whole tournament," Mauresmo said.

"I noticed that it was a good atmosphere this year. Also, I think the fact that the weather was good makes things a bit different.

"Last year was a bit colder and not as friendly for everyone to come or to enjoy fully the experience.

"There was this famous night when people were going too far [during the Fritz v Rinderknech match]. Everybody was really warmed up on the stands, as well. But apart from that episode, honestly, I think it's fantastic to have such atmosphere."

ISTANBUL -- Romelu Lukaku can't have got much sleep on Saturday night in Istanbul. He might not on Sunday or on Monday either. His failure to score for Inter Milan in the 88th minute of the Champions League final against Manchester City will haunt his nights as much as his days for a while.

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It will also, undoubtedly, launch a new wave of criticism and online mockery of the Belgium international. Chances like the one the striker got at the Ataturk stadium, a free header inside the six-yard box, don't come too often. Certainly not in a Champions League final. And especially not right at the end of the game to surely send it to extra time.

Yet, it did happen. Lukaku failed to score. The Expected Goals on Target (xGOT) of his chance, which was blocked by goalkeeper Ederson's knee, was 0.69. That means that seven times out of 10, when a player is in the same position as Lukaku hits the target, they score. Statistically speaking, it's more than twice as hard to not score that chance.

For a while after the final whistle, Lukaku stood on the pitch, alone, looking empty, feeling nothing. While his teammate, Lautaro Martinez, was in tears and being comforted by other Inter players, Lukaku didn't show much emotion. He never does. But he had to wait for City midfielder and fellow Belgian Kevin De Bruyne to cross the whole pitch while the title celebrations were happening to get a proper hug. The two go back a long way and De Bruyne wanted to be there for his friend. He will need it.

On Sunday, all the world of football is talking about is the miss. On every TV show, in every newspaper, on every radio station. The miss gets replayed, analysed and discussed. How didn't he score from so close, with most of the goal wide open? His attempt to convert Robin Gosens' cross failed, and the dream of Inter lifting the trophy for a fourth time in their history vanished with it. Should he have scored? Yes. Does this make him a bad striker? No.

In front of that exact same goal, 18 years ago, Andriy Shevchenko also missed an incredible opportunity to put AC Milan back ahead against Liverpool. In 2005, Jerzy Dudek made the miraculous save. In 2023, it was Ederson. On both occasions, the team from Milan lost the final to the team from England.

This one will hurt for a long time because Inter were so close, and yet so far. Their game plan worked perfectly for most of the game. They closed the half-spaces and defended very well -- especially against Erling Haaland, who himself had a big chance saved by Andre Onana in the first half -- and they unsettled the City midfielders and upset their opponents' rhythm. But they paid for the rare tactical mistake that they made. Alessandro Bastoni had to come out of his zone to engage Manuel Akanji, leaving space behind him in the box for Bernardo Silva to exploit, and the rest is history. Apart from that, the Milanese didn't do much wrong. They hit the crossbar as well as Lukaku missing his big chance.

In these circumstances, when you have the best chances and still lose the game, you would rather have lost 3-0 and have no regrets. Now, they will have plenty of them. The poring over of "What if?" scenarios will go on for some time. What if Lukaku had scored? What if Bastoni had not come out to Akanji? What if Matteo Darmian had blocked Rodri's match-winning shot? What if Edin Dzeko had not started? The list goes on.

Reaching the final was unexpected at the start of the campaign for Inter, and they can't let the loss define their season. Many thought that they would get knocked out by Bayern Munich and Barcelona in the group stage, but they weren't. Many thought that Benfica could cause them problems in the round of 16, but they couldn't. Many thought that last season's Serie A champions AC Milan would win their derby semifinal, but they didn't. Inter have exceeded expectations, completing a very good season with two domestic trophies (the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana.)

On Saturday, they made their club, their fans and their staff proud. To restrict this treble-chasing City team to an xG of less than 1 is remarkable. They showed commitment, organisation, passion and desire. They had to wait 13 years to reach another Champions League final, but after Saturday can hope that it won't be as long before their next one.

But can they follow through on coach Simone Inzaghi's postmatch pledge that they will be back for next season's final? Their starting XI on Saturday had an average age of 29.7 years old, and it felt like the last dance for players like Dzeko (37,) Francesco Acerbi (35) and Darmian (33.)

So it is a long shot, but they can reach these heights again. They have to build on this journey and believe they can take that final step, if they can only take their big chance next time it presents itself.

ISTANBUL -- Whatever else they might say about Manchester City's first-ever treble (first of many? We'll find out...) let them not say that it was painless. Or that it didn't involve suffering. And maybe even a smattering of self-doubt. We got to the conclusion most expected: a City win over Inter Milan.

But the journey we took to get there was unexpected and, for City, uncomfortable and unpleasant and filled with far more adversity than anyone could imagine. It's one of those things that happens in sports. It was the correct outcome in terms of crowning the best team in the world. But, on the night, it served a reminder that a mean, hungry underdog can rattle even the biggest, strongest favorite.

On the flip side, Simone Inzaghi and his Inter players can say they matched City despite losing the final 1-0 and, in fact, surpassed them in a bunch of statistical categories (expected goals: 1.80 to 0.93; shots on goal: 14-7; shots on target: 6-4; big chances missed: 4-2).

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That last one will hurt and it will sting Romelu Lukaku, who once suited up for City's crosstown rival Manchester United, more than most. He inadvertently got in the way of Federico Dimarco's goal-bound header with 20 minutes left to play. Then, in the 89th minute and with the whole goal to aim at, he planted a tame header right where Ederson, with lightning-quick reflexes, could parry it.

City entered the cauldron of the Ataturk Olympic Stadium as probably the biggest favorites in two decades. In the eyes of many, including the bookmakers, this was manifest destiny. The winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup against a side that finished a distant third in Serie A. Heck, even their titular owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, had shown up to watch their date with history. Which is a pretty big deal when you consider that -- despite those close to him insisting he's a massive fan -- he'd only seen the team he's spent more than $1 billion on in person once before since purchasing it in 2008.

Even their coach, Pep Guardiola, normally so circumspect, said that for all the team's domestic success, "something would be missing" if they failed to lift the European Cup. It was quite the departure for a guy who normally says all the rational coach things -- from "we just want to get better every year" to "performance is what matters" and "the league is the true test, anything can happen in a cup" -- but on this occasion he let his heart and soul speak louder than his mind. He also said what most fans and media think: silverware matters.

And yet, on the night, it was far from easy. Inzaghi, the Inter coach with the hangdog expression and the understated (some might say milquetoast) manner, dug deep in his tactical toolbox and contained City until midway through the second half. And then, in a frenzied finale, saw his team create -- and miss -- a trio of massive chances to equalize. You expect favorites to stick to their game and underdogs to adapt to the opposition, looking for an edge. In the past, Guardiola had paid a hefty price for not sticking to that conventional wisdom.

Many of his previous unsuccessful attempts at winning the Champions League after leaving Barcelona (and Lionel Messi) in 2012 had been marked by an unexpected curveball when a fastball would have more than sufficed, whether dropping key players out of the blue (Rodri in the 2021 final against Chelsea springs to mind) or suddenly abandoning a tried-and-tested formation.

Not this time. City set up the way everyone expected and it was Inter who adapted, not by changing scheme or personnel, but rather by reading City and making adjustments without losing their shape. The counterattack was always going to be part of the plan, but the risk was being sucked too deep and leaving themselves exposed to City's stifling possession, which, when you have so many individual match winners, is a dangerous game to play.

Inzaghi had the courage to deploy a medium block. Rather than double- or triple-teaming Erling Haaland -- who finished the season scoring 52 goals in 53 matches played across competitions -- he left the old warrior Francesco Acerbi on him, shielding him with livewire midfielder Marcelo Brozovic in front and sweeper-keeper Andre Onana to cover the ground behind. This enabled Matteo Darmian to help Denzel Dumfries with Jack Grealish down the right and Alessandro Bastoni to pick up the runs of Kevin De Bruyne (for the 35 minutes or so he was on the pitch before exiting with a hamstring injury) and Bernardo Silva coming inside on the left.

The plan blunted City's first-half possessions to the point that, other than a Haaland foray which Onana saved, the Premier League champions created very few chances. They weren't helped when they lost De Bruyne, but the broader theme was one of a City side that looked imprecise and, at times, even absent-minded.

Guardiola told his troops that Inter "are really good" and that City "needed to be patient." But was this self-doubt creeping in? Had they been too confident? Maybe the wake-up call came in the 58th minute, when Manuel Akanji's mistake freed Lautaro Martinez, one-on-one with Ederson. The Argentine had been on fire since his disappointing performances at the World Cup, scoring 20 goals in the latter half of the season, but Ederson stood tall and thwarted his finish.

Guardiola, in his technical area, had actually fallen to his knees and was on all fours when Ederson made his save. You wonder if he knew that this could have been the moment it all came tumbling down. As he got up, his expression reminded you of that scene in "Pulp Fiction" when the guy unloads his gun on John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson and, somehow, misses them. Inzaghi reacted too, with a pirouette and a shadow right hook.

Football is the most superstitious of sports. Miss a chance and you'll be punished. And that's what happened 10 minutes later, when Rodri seized Bernardo Silva's deflected pullback and rammed it past Onana. This should have been when things got a whole lot easier. Inter having to chase, City's superior passers keeping the ball, releasing Haaland to do damage, Inter getting desperate. But less than three minutes later, with the City defence at loose ends, Dimarco hit the crossbar and, on the rebound, hit Lukaku's large frame. Then, after Onana smothered Foden's chance, came Lukaku's mega-miss (though a lot of credit should go to Ederson).

Eighteen years ago, in another Serie A-Premier League final, in this very same stadium, in the very same end, Liverpool's Jerzy Dudek had denied AC Milan's Andriy Shevchenko a similarly colossal opportunity, cuing up the most improbable comeback in Champions' League final history. This time, Ederson had denied a comeback, but his contribution was just as important. And the big Brazilian keeper came up massive at the very end of injury time again, with a lightning quick save off Robin Gosens' header.

Ederson, who sometimes gets forgotten for the simple reason that City are so complete they face very few shots, was one of the unquestioned heroes of the night, along with John Stones.

"I look back on those chances, from hitting the crossbar, to Lukaku's opportunity, to the Gosens' header and ask myself just how the ball didn't go in," Inzaghi said after the match. "And I feel physically sick. I would have wanted to play extra time; I think we deserved it."

Maybe not as sick as Guardiola felt in the palpitating finale. When, for all the hard work, for all the accolades, for all the sense of an inevitable (and deserved) march into history, his team's fate hung by a spider thread.

"You have to be lucky," he said, after admitting that City were not at their usual level. "Ederson [saves] or they miss it, it could [have been] a draw. This competition is a coin flip."

Maybe so, but this time the coin fell his way. And when you look past Istanbul over the past nine months -- heck, over the past few years -- it was fully deserved. And the fact that it came with so much suffering and uncertainty at the end can be spun both ways, depending on who is doing the spinning: it's either a sign that you were fortunate, sure, or, if you're smart -- and Guardiola can spin doctor with the best of them -- a reminder never to rest on your laurels and to push yourself as hard as you can, because the thing you hold and have built can crumble and run through your fingers like dust.

That they didn't, Guardiola said, was because it was "written in the stars." His lucky stars. And maybe, as sometimes happens, the pain makes it more real. A reminder of the immensity of what was achieved, not on the night, but throughout the season.

As for Inter, the hurt and the feeling of "sick" that Inzaghi felt will linger. But they leave Istanbul with their heads held high. This team cobbled together with free transfers and loans, this club perpetually up for sale, this fan base that has given so much unrequited love, these players many of whom face uncertain futures ... they showed they can come together and push one of the best teams European football has produced in a decade to the very brink.

That means something. So much so that when Inzaghi says that Inter "have every chance of returning to the final next year" you don't want to tell him he's deluded.

New York Mets owner Steve Cohen said he is "not going to blow up" over his team's poor start to the season and insisted that neither manager Buck Showalter nor general manager Billy Eppler are in danger of being fired.

Cohen, in a wide-ranging interview with the New York Post, admitted he is frustrated with the Mets' struggles and said he thinks the team's biggest problem is its inconsistent pitching staff.

But when asked whether Showalter's or Eppler's jobs were in jeopardy, Cohen said he will remain patient.

"When things get really bad, I'm not going to blow up," Cohen told the Post, which published the interview before the Mets' victory Saturday over the Pittsburgh Pirates. "I don't think that's the proper response. I don't think it solves anything, other than it gives people a one-day story. But it doesn't really solve anything.

"There's plenty of blame to go around from a performance point of view. So blowing up, I'm not sure it solves anything. It would demonstrate, 'Oh, he really cares. He's one of us.' But the reality is it's not going to solve our problems, and I think in some ways it can be demotivating."

The Mets enter Sunday fourth in the National League East with a 31-34 record, 9½ games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves. Saturday's victory in Pittsburgh snapped the Mets' seven-game losing streak, which included a three-game sweep in Atlanta to the rival Braves.

Despite a record payroll estimated at over $340 million, the Mets will be hard-pressed to match their record from 2022, when they went 101-61 in their first season under Showalter and Eppler.

Eppler told the Post on Saturday that he is confident in Showalter, a four-time Manager of the Year who is in his 22nd season as a major league manager. Cohen echoed those sentiments, saying the Mets' problems are "organizational" and that he wants to avoid being "reactionary."

"I think that's the worst thing you can do is to be overly reactionary," Cohen told the Post. "General fan reaction -- it's usually, 'I can't believe Steve's not going nuts, fire somebody.' My answer to that is, 'OK, let's say I went nuts. Let's say I fired somebody. Then what?' What does that accomplish? Who are you gonna replace them with? This is the middle of the season. And then if you actually ask people [who are the replacements], they have no answers, other than they're just angry, and I get that.

"I'm frustrated, too. The players are frustrated. The front office is frustrated. We are frustrated. No one expected this. This is really surprising. It doesn't mean that things won't get better. If we can find ways to fix our weaknesses, we'll try."

The Mets' most glaring weakness arguably is their pitching staff, which entered Sunday with a 4.73 ERA -- the fifth worst in the majors. Cohen specifically cited the struggles of veteran aces Justin Verlander (4.85 ERA) and Max Scherzer (3.71), who both have battled injuries and inconsistency this season.

"I believe we have veteran pitchers who have performed in the past," Cohen said. "I think they're gonna do better. I think we're seeing signs of it. Verlander went out the other night [Thursday against the Braves] and pitched three innings. The start before he threw 120 pitches. Is one related to the other? Might be, I don't know, it's way above my paygrade.

"Generally he's the type of pitcher and Max is the type of pitcher -- I think they are going to be fine. ... What is the odds this group of pitchers will pitch this way the entire season? Probably unlikely. That is why there is reason for optimism in a moment where it looks like the wheels have just come off."

Cohen, a New York-based hedge fund manager, purchased the franchise in November 2020 for a record $2.4 billion and has elevated the Mets into one of Major League Baseball's highest-spending franchises over the past three years.

Although he repeatedly stated that he loves and appreciates Mets fans' passion, Cohen also reiterated that he will not shake up the organization to appease "recency bias."

"That's not how I'm going to run this team," he said. "That's not how I'm dealing with my people. And if people don't like it, what can I tell you? I'm gonna do it the way I do it. I don't know who they thought they were getting.

"Just because I spent money doesn't mean a change -- I'm gonna run it in my style: thoughtful, involved. And sometimes there are no easy answers. And you have to accept that."

IT'S A DAY before Game 3 of the 2023 NBA Finals, and Kyle Lowry is standing in front of black double doors leading to the Miami Heat's locker room as media and team staffers whiz back and forth on the red carpet in front of him.

At 37, Lowry is in his 18th NBA season. He's on his fourth team. He's a six-time All-Star and an NBA champion. His Heat teammates and coaches believe he will be a Hall of Famer. And in his second full season in Miami, he desperately wants to win another title -- for the Heat, but also for a close friend. There is a part of him that believes this whole moment has unfolded the way it was supposed to.

That close friend, Heat star Jimmy Butler, feels the same way. The pair has dreamed about this moment for the better part of a decade. It's a friendship buoyed by the same values that have driven both players' unlikely paths to NBA stardom: work and trust. Teammates lovingly describe both men as "a--holes," and to both proud men it's a term of endearment. But the duo has cultivated the same values in a Heat locker room that has helped drive this team full of players who aspire to have careers just like them to within three games of an NBA championship.

The endless brotherly seesaw between the two proud friends has been on full display throughout the Heat's magical playoff run. After beating the fifth-seeded New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals May 12, Butler was asked what separates the Heat from the typical No. 8 seed.

"We got Kyle Lowry," Butler said, as a smile crossed his face.

Lowry, sitting next to a shirtless Butler at the podium, had his response ready.

"Shut the f--- [up]," Lowry said, breaking into a smile.

The rhythm the pair shares is evident on and off the floor and defines one of the league's most interesting high-profile friendships. It's also why Lowry is quick with an answer when asked what his friend's recruiting pitch was in summer 2021, prior to Lowry working out a sign-and-trade deal with the Raptors.

"It wasn't a pitch," Lowry told ESPN. "[It was:] Bring your ass here."

THE PAIR'S REUNION was years in the making. Nine years earlier, as Butler's Chicago Bulls played against Lowry and his Raptors, the pair developed a kinship through competition. They saw similarities in the way they played. They saw similar toughness -- both mental and physical -- and comparable NBA paths.

A year or two later, as their mutual respect grew, they exchanged numbers and planned to grab dinner.

"We just talked," Lowry said. "It was like, 'Yo, when you come to Chicago, let's go to dinner.' 'All right, bet. Let's do it.'"

In Lowry, Butler saw a player consumed with finding ways to win and working to get better, qualities he wished he had more of in Chicago. He saw somebody who reminded him of himself.

"Everything he is about is about winning," Butler told ESPN. "Whenever you get with other guys that they're only about winning, that's all that matters. It's not about stats, and about how many shots you get, not about how many stops you get, whatever you're asked of to do to help the squad win -- that's why we rock with one another."

And so the next time the Raptors came to town to face the Bulls, the two young stars broke bread.

"He picked me up and we went to dinner in Chicago," Lowry said. "And just sat there and just me and him. He wasn't Jimmy Butler, I wasn't Kyle Lowry. We were just two dudes having a good dinner and how he talked and how he was and how he thought was one of those things when you're just like, 'Man, such a great dude.'"

Why did it click so quickly?

"Honestly, I think it was just the way we played," Lowry said. "I think it was the way we competed against each other. I think that's where it's like, yo, he didn't care who I was, I didn't care who he was, we just wanted to win the game."

BACK ON MAY 12, minutes after completing the 4-2 series win against the Knicks, Butler, still shirtless, sat at the podium inside the Heat's interview room. Lowry then sat down next to him, ready with the kind of one-liner that any older brother would appreciate.

"I would take my shirt off," Lowry said. "But I don't want to embarrass him."

Twenty-five days later, just a few steps away from the same interview room inside Kaseya Center, Lowry and Butler's improbable journey continues in the Finals. It's just after 1 p.m. the day before Game 3, and Lowry has stopped answering questions about the X's and O's of Games 1 and 2.

Now, he's just reminiscing.

He tells a story about one of the key moments that cemented the duo's bond -- with the pair representing Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

"We just got close," Lowry says. "We really got close by playing cards. Playing spades with Sue [Bird] and Diana [Taurasi]."

Then Lowry makes a declaration as Butler walks back into the locker room.

"They are cheaters in cards," Lowry says. "And please make sure that they [know that]."

"How bad are Sue and Diana cheaters in cards," Lowry says to Butler. "At spades, they're cheaters."

"Yes," Butler says, as the two make plans to meet up later.

As Lowry moves on from his dismay of being cheated by two of basketball's all-time-great players, he expounds on how the Rio Olympics formed the bond that has carried them forward.

"[It] helped us be around each other even more," Lowry says. "And we won a gold medal together, that's big. I love the way he competed."

In the midst of their path to gold, Butler and Lowry made a pact.

"We talked about this in 2016," Butler says. "We had some other guys on board as well that went other ways, but Kyle stuck to his word. I told him whenever me and you get together, we will win a championship. So I got the end of that bargain to hold up."

Did Lowry and Butler ever think their reunion would take place in Chicago instead of Miami?

"No comment," Lowry says with a smile.

Butler offers a more direct answer.

"Nah," Butler says. "Uh-uh ... I didn't think Chicago would be the spot.

"I couldn't tell you what I thought that spot would be, but I'm grateful that it's here. ... I'm glad that we get the opportunity, and we will get this city a championship."

When the chance finally came to join forces in Miami two years ago, Lowry knew what to do. After spending nine seasons in Toronto, he was looking for a fresh start -- and one with Butler.

"We planned to figure out how to play with each other," Lowry says. "And we always believed that it was going to happen, but when the opportunity was here, the opportunity came. It was like I had to, it's my brother."

KEVIN LOVE, THE 15-year veteran who signed with the Heat in February and won a title as a member of the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers, immediately recognized the bond that binds the Heat.

"They just have an understanding," Love told ESPN of Lowry and Butler. "Their relationship, I don't know how much time you've seen them interact, but they just have a true understanding of one another and a special relationship. They obviously would never say that 'cause they're both a--holes, but no, they truly are high-level thinkers, competitors and Hall of Famers."

It's a sentiment shared up and down the locker room by a group of players who have learned to embrace the curmudgeonly pair for who they are -- and what they preach. Even if their methods are ... different.

"It's tough to compare Jimmy to anybody," Heat guard Max Strus told ESPN. "He's one in his own world, but they do get each other. ... It's special to have them both on our team and learn from both of them."

Said Lowry: "I think just respect for what each other had to go through and how we've gotten to the point where we got to where we are. We just have this weird dynamic of understanding and respecting each other that goes way back before being teammates. And that's why I'm here, to play for him, play with him, and get to this point."

Love, who has certainly seen unusual team dynamics in Minnesota and Cleveland, laughs when asked whether it's like playing with two Oscars from Sesame Street.

"Yeah, but I love Oscar the Grouch," Love said. "On Sesame Street, he's one of my favorite [characters]. No, I think they both have a leadership style that if you're not going to meet us all the way there, then we don't want to go to war with you. So they make you get all the way there with them and say, 'Hey, we're going to compete every single game and we're coming out to win.'"

It's an assessment Butler agrees with. Twelve years into the league, Butler describes how his own leadership has evolved.

"I lead a lot by example," Butler said. "I don't got too much to say no more just because I've learned the way I say stuff, everybody doesn't take to it the same way. So I actually let K-Love and Kyle be more so of the vocal leaders. I'mma just give you a look and you're going to know like, 'Look, man I'm not here for that.'

"Or I'mma just go out there and play hard as s--- and then show you, 'This is what we're going to do.' And then that's up to everybody else to talk about it. I'm done talking."

BACK OUTSIDE THE doors of the locker room, Lowry's walk down memory lane in Rio is interrupted as he tries to plan out the rest of his day with Butler. Lowry has a quick conversation with him about where he'll be later because he wants to make sure he can swing by to see his goddaughter: Butler's daughter, Rylee.

"I'm his daughter's godfather," he said proudly before Game 1 in Denver. "My baby Rylee."

The interaction underscores the bond between the teammates. It's familial. A deep trust. Loyalty.

"It's no coincidence when you got a relationship off the basketball court of respect and friendship, it just makes it easier to build a relationship," veteran Heat leader Udonis Haslem told ESPN. "... Their families hang out, their kids hang out, they spend time together. That allows them to be on the same page when they get on the basketball court."

After struggling throughout his career to find common ground with some of his teammates at various NBA stops, Butler has found both an organization and a player who embrace him for exactly who he is.

"We're always like this," Butler said, noting how much their families hang out together. "But on the court, he's a champion for a reason. He's an Olympic gold medalist for a reason. His jersey will be retired for a reason, Hall of Fame for a reason, but it's all because he's all about winning."

It's an approach that has defined the Heat for almost three decades under the leadership of team president Pat Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra. It's also what makes Butler and Lowry's partnership unique.

"They're a different breed," Strus said. "They're different, the way they go about their work is different, but at the end of the day they're great teammates, they're great human beings and they care about everybody on the team."

It's also why Lowry doesn't hesitate to describe what it would mean to win a championship with Butler.

"Everything," Lowry said. "You would see the biggest hug, the biggest hug from me and him that you'll ever see in anybody in life because that's all I want for him, is to get that. All I want for him is to get that."

ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The status of Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk was uncertain after their Game 4 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night.

Tkachuk played just 16 minutes, 40 seconds in the 3-2 loss, which moved Vegas one win away from capturing its first Stanley Cup. He was clearly laboring in the game and skated only four shifts during the third period.

"Obviously, you want to be out there playing. Just was able to go out there at the end and tried to make some magic happen late but ran out of time," Tkachuk said.

Florida coach Paul Maurice wouldn't disclose what was affecting Tkachuk and wouldn't confirm his status for Tuesday's potential elimination game back in Las Vegas.

"We got two days off to assess that. Get some good rest and we'll make that decision [then]," he said.

What would it take for Tkachuk to miss Game 5?

"That's a tough question. I don't really want to talk about that right now," said the winger, who leads the Panthers with 11 goals and 13 assists this postseason.

It was the second-lowest total ice time for Tkachuk in the playoffs, behind Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, during which Tkachuk amassed 22 penalty minutes.

He did very little shooting in warmups and didn't have his usual velocity during Game 4. He managed four shots on goal on eight shot attempts, but Tkachuk went 10:41 between shifts in the third period as Florida attempted to rally from a 3-0 deficit.

"Matthew's been a grinder his whole life, and he was again tonight," Maurice said. "We were just looking and hoping to get into a situation where he could use what he had to give us and hopefully get on the power play a little earlier, I guess, than certainly at the end of the game."

The Panthers earned their only power play of the game with just under 18 seconds remaining after Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo sent the puck over glass in the defensive zone.

There was speculation after the game that Tkachuk might have been feeling the effects of the Game 3 hit delivered by Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar. Tkachuk was pulled from that contest in the first period by NHL concussion spotters but was cleared to return in the second period. He would eventually score the game-tying goal ahead of Carter Verhaeghe's overtime winner.

"That's just not going to come out right now," Tkachuk said, when asked about the Game 3 hit.

Tkachuk was asked if his time off the ice in the third was due to being in too much pain.

"I don't even know how to answer that, really. Just trying to find a way out there to make it work tonight and came up just probably a second short," he said. "Time ran out there with me and [Sam Bennett] whacking away. Two more seconds there, you never know."

The end of the game was chaotic. The Panthers scrambled to get pucks on goalie Adin Hill (29 saves) in the final seconds of their 6-on-4 power play. Tkachuk had the puck on his stick right before the buzzer sounded. Then several scrums started, as Hill took exception to Florida defenseman Brandon Montour crashing his net after the horn sounded.

As garbage and plastic rats littered the ice -- fans had been frustrated with the officiating for the two games in Sunrise -- Hill earned a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct while Montour was given a charging minor and a 10-minute misconduct.

Tkachuk was given slashing and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties as well as his fourth 10-minute misconduct of the series. Tkachuk now has five 10-minute misconducts this postseason, the seventh player all time to have that many in a single postseason.

"A little mayhem after the buzzer there, but everyone on our ice there did our job to keep the puck out," Hill said.

Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said it was a by-product of a hard-played game.

"Those scrums are going to come. We were close to tying the game, and there are a lot of guys at the net, and those things happen," he said.

Teams up 3-1 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final have won 36 of 37 series. The only team to rally from that deficit was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who came back from a 3-0 hole to defeat the Detroit Red Wings for the Cup.

But the Panthers do have something to cling to heading into Game 5: their shocking first-round win over the Boston Bruins after rallying from a 3-1 series deficit. It all started with a Game 5 overtime victory on the road, on the first of three overtime winners from Tkachuk in this run to the Stanley Cup Final.

"It was just like a really short-term mindset or there: Get the first goal in Boston, get it to overtime," Tkachuk said. "Just the longer games go against all these teams, all the pressure starts to shift to them. So it's going to Vegas, and the longer it goes, longer the game goes, the longer the series goes, all the pressure goes to them."

Maurice said that before Game 5 his players will be reminded plenty of that rally against the Bruins.

"We'll tell stories over the next two days, for sure, reminders of the energy level we brought into Game 5 in Boston," he said, "and we'll celebrate it. We'll celebrate it before the puck drops."