No matter who wins the final, Kentucky will have champions

Anthony Davis (3) of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates after the Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets in an NBA conference playoff basketball game on Saturday, September 26, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The Lakers won 117-107 to win the series 4-1. (AP Photo / Mark J. Terrill)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – The Lakers wear mostly purple and gold. Heat’s main colors are red and black.

And these NBA Finals look tinted blue, Kentucky blue to be precise.

No matter what happens in this series of titles, Kentucky’s roster of NBA champions is sure to grow. Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo and coach Frank Vogel have ties to Kentucky on the Los Angeles Lakers side; Miami Heat players Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro played in Kentucky, as did Heat president Pat Riley.

“When I look at all these guys and how they are playing, it doesn’t surprise me guys can cope with this,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said Tuesday. “The atmosphere here, everything in it, is preparing them for the NBA. It’s an NBA environment, how we practice, competitiveness in practice, games. Every shot matters here. … These kids, it’s like their rookie year is here. “

Calipari coached Davis, Adebayo and Herro in Kentucky. He tried to coach Rondo, and said Tuesday that he almost lured him to the Dominican Republic national team, coached by Calipari, in hopes of qualifying for the Olympics.

Vogel was a manager and later a video coordinator at Kentucky in the mid-1990s. Riley played Kentucky for Adolph Rupp in the mid-1960s.

Kentucky is the fifth school to have four former players in a single NBA final, joining La Salle in 1956, UCLA in 1980, North Carolina in 1991 and Arizona in 2017. Almost certainly the top two scorers in the playoffs are former Kentucky standouts; Denver’s Jamal Murray currently ranks first with 504, and Davis is third with 432, just five points behind Boston’s Jayson Tatum, a Duke product.

“Obviously, he was a coach in the league, so he knows what it takes to get there,” Davis said of Calipari. “I think it’s an advantage for all the players that go to Kentucky. He can get you ready in one, two years. “

It is not lost on Heat coach Erik Spoelstra that the finals will be a recruiting tool for Kentucky, and he also said Riley is not ashamed to enjoy having players from his alma mater on the roster.

“We love Kentucky players because you are there to improve, to be pushed, to understand what it means to play for a team, play a role and train to become a professional at this level,” Spoelstra said. “You are going to face good competition in practice. You are expected to work. It is an environment that, as far as possible, prepares you for professionals, even at the university level. “

UNIFORM MATTERS

The Lakers will wear their gold uniforms for Game 1 on Wednesday night, with the Heat in black.

Game 2, and Game 7, if necessary, will see the Lakers in their black uniforms that are a tribute to Kobe Bryant, with the Heat in white on those nights.

The Heat will remain in black uniforms for Games 3 and 4, with the Lakers blank for Game 3 and gold again for Game 4. Game 5, if necessary, would see the Lakers in purple and the Heat in white. . Game 6 would mirror Game 3; the Heat in black, the Lakers in white.

AWAKE

The first game of the final is scheduled to begin on Wednesday at 9:10 p.m., annually generating complaints from fans in the Eastern time zone, as the showdown likely won’t end until shortly before midnight.

It could be worse. The sleep cycles of Heat guard Goran Dragic’s family will be a disaster for the next two weeks.

The NBA Finals are broadcast in 215 countries, including Slovenia, where Dragic’s wife, children, parents and many close friends are located. And there, Game 1 starts on Thursday at 3:10 a.m. M.

“I mean, my kids are going to sleep, but definitely my wife, my parents, my friends, they will probably go to bed and set an alarm clock around 2:55 and wake up and get excited for the game,” Dragic said. . “But I definitely know my Pops, he will definitely see it.”

HI KIDS

Miami’s Tyler Herro is likely to be the first player born in the 2000s to play an NBA Finals game; He’s generally one of the first substitutes the Heat use, so a few minutes of the first quarter for him Wednesday night seem likely.

However, the 20-year-old is not the youngest player in the series.

Lakers rookie Talen Horton-Tucker won’t turn 20 until November 25. He appeared in two games during the Western Conference semifinals, but has been inactive for 12 of his team’s 15 postseason games.

ATTENDANCE: 92

There has never been a more difficult ticket to an NBA Finals game.

The NBA says 92 people, family members and invited players will be in attendance to watch the finals at AdventHealth Arena on the Walt Disney World campus. Players have been allowed to bring a small number of family and friends to the bubble for the later rounds of the playoffs.

Read next

EDITOR’S SELECTION

MOST READ

Don’t miss the latest news and information.