Arizona Basketball

Arizona Wildcats NBA playoffs social media reactions

FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!

[rps-paypal]

Channing Frye turned 33 on Tuesday and the Cavaliers provided a birthday gift with a 115-84 win over Toronto in Game One of the Eastern Conference finals. This is the second time Frye has advanced to a conference finals. The first was with the Suns in 2010 when they lost to the Lakers in six games in the Western Conference finals.

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]


No doubt Frye is having the time of his NBA life, in his 10th season at that level.

[/ezcol_1half]

[ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]

With three players remaining in the playoffs — Andre Iguodala, Frye and Richard Jefferson — Arizona has plenty to pound its chest about.

Matched with four coaches still at work — Golden State head coach Steve Kerr and assistants Luke Walton and Bruce Fraser and Cleveland assistant Bret Brielmaier — the Wildcats are front and center in the conference finals stage.

The Pac-12 is also well represented, leading all Power 5 conferences with 14 players in NBA’s version of the Final Four. The ACC is next with 11 followed by the SEC (seven), Big 12 (six) and Big Ten (only two).

SCHOOLS WITH MOST PLAYERS IN NBA’S FINAL FOUR VERSION
UCLA 4
Arizona 3
Duke 3
Kansas 3
Texas 3
Georgia Tech 2
Kentucky 2
North Carolina 2
Utah 2
Villanova 2
21 tied with 1

SCHOOLS WITH MOST COACHING PERSONNEL IN NBA’S FINAL FOUR VERSION
Arizona 4
Kentucky 2
18 tied with 1

POWER 5 CONFERENCES WITH MOST PLAYERS IN NBA’S FINAL FOUR VERSION
Pac-12 14
ACC 11
SEC 7
Big 12 6
Big Ten 2

[/ezcol_1half_end]

Jefferson, in his 15th season in the NBA, is in the conference finals for the first time since going to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003 with the New Jersey Nets. Remember when Jefferson was one of the last players off Golden State’s bench under Mark Jackson in 2012 and 2013?


[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]

This tweet makes sense with best friend Walton as the Lakers’ head coach next season. If Jefferson does not play next year (he most likely will not retire), count on him to be part of Walton’s staff. That is bound to happen down the line if Walton is still the head coach.

And he has lived to tell about it …

You have to like the jokes of Jefferson being old, but he is not Thomas Jefferson

Try laughing at this … Jefferson has all the way to the bank.

[/ezcol_1half]

[ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]


More than the two-time defending MVP?

Kerr makes sense but then again he usually does …

[/ezcol_1half_end]

Make that Frye and Jefferson having the time of their lives …

ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.

print

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
To Top