Kentucky Basketball Guaranteed an NBA Championship After Celtics' Elimination

On Friday, the New York Knicks defeated the Boston Celtics 119-81 in blowout fashion to win the Eastern Conference Semifinals in six games and end the Celtics’ hope of back-to-back titles.

The Celtics were playing shorthanded after superstar Jayson Tatum suffered a torn Achilles in game four.

While heartbreaking for Celtics fans, Kentucky fans — at least those who don’t root for the Celtics — gained some positives with the result as all five remaining teams have a former Wildcat on the roster.

WEST SEMIFINALS: Denver Nuggets

One of the final two teams yet to lock itself into the conference finals, the Denver Nuggets will face the Oklahoma City Thunder in game seven on Sunday with the winner getting a date with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Looking first at the Nuggets, the 2023 NBA Champions with multi-time MVP Nikola Jokic have done far better than many could have expected against the oppressive Thunder, the No. 1 seed in the West.

The Nuggets took down the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round with former UK star Jamal Murray on the roster.

Murray had a superstar showing in round one against the Clippers in game five, scoring 43 points in a 131-115 victory. Against OKC thus far, Murray has had several strong showings, dropping 28, 27 and 25.

Overall he is averaging 21.4 points a night in the series as one of two former Wildcats to have an NBA Championship as an active player (Anthony Davis).

WEST SEMIFINALS: Oklahoma City Thunder

On the flip side, the OKC Thunder have two former Wildcats on their roster.

Expected NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is joined by relative league newcomer Cason Wallace.

First, Gilgeous-Alexander has scored 30.3 points a night against Denver and 32.7 per night on the season.

In the Thunder’s round-one series sweep over the Memphis Grizzlies, SGA had a poor game one, scoring just 15, but then dropped 27, 31 and 38 to ice the series.

Against Denver, he’s had another 18 point blunder — if one can call 18 a blunder — but has also scored 33, 34, 31 and 32.

As for Wallace, he’s been a far less significant part of the Thunder’s success, but a part nonetheless. He’s scored double digits in two games against the Nuggets and looks like a promising future star in the league.

WEST FINALS: Minnesota Timberwolves

Now on to the conference finals, the Timberwolves also have two former Wildcats on their roster and, similarly to OKC, one is a superstar and one is a rising star.

First, Julius Randle was acquired from the Knicks in a trade with another former Wildcat and has helped the Wolves get back to the conference finals for the second year in a row.

Randle has averaged 18.7 points per game his season with 7.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists. He dropped 20+ in four of five games in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers and four out of five games, including a 31-point showing, in the semifinals against the Golden State Warriors.

As for the rising star, rookie Rob Dillingham, he has yet to play in the NBA Playoffs yet, but remains a member of the roster nonetheless.

EAST FINALS: New York Knicks

The team that locked in the feat for UK in the first place by eliminating Boston, New York has one former Wildcat on its roster: the aforementioned acquisition from Minnesota for Randle. Karl-Anthony Towns.

KAT has been strong for the Knicks this season, averaging 24.4 points per night and has scored 30.3 a night against the Pacers, his team’s Eastern Conference Finals opponent.

Towns was very up-and-down in the first round against the Detroit Pistons, scoring 10 points twice, though he did get 15 rebounds the second time, but also had numerous highs, dropping 31 and 27 in games three and four.

Against Boston, Towns was far more reliable, scoring 14, 21, 21, 23, 18 and 21 in each of the six games.

EAST FINALS: Indiana Pacers

Last but not least, the Indiana Pacers have been red hot this postseason behind star Tyrese Haliburton.

The “Yes-cers” took down the Milwaukee Bucks handily in five games in the first round before stunning the No. 1 seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in five as well in the semifinals.

They are also perhaps the only team on this list that may have some kind of asterisk tied to being a part of the Kentucky victory lap.

It must be said that Isaiah Jackson has been a member of the Pacers since 2021 while also doing duty in the NBA G League.

It must also be said that Jackson hasn’t played since Nov. 1 after tearing his Achilles in a loss against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Nonetheless, Jackson would get a ring if the Pacers were to win it all, so the point stands.