4 former Kentucky Wildcats will play in the NBA Conference Finals

The NBA Conference Finals are set.

Tonight, the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics will tip from South Beach. Wednesday will commence the Western Conference Finals from the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.

Miami was the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, defeating the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round, so the first two games will be in south Florida. On the other side, fans will be treated to the Golden State Warriors facing off with the Dallas Mavericks.

That will be a battle of Stephen Curry against Luka Doncic. The Mavs embarrassed the Suns on Phoenix’s home court in Game 7, sending former Wildcats’ standout Devin Booker home for the season.

As for former Cats, all of them are on just one team with the Heat being well represented by former Kentucky stars. The two you may not hear as much about are guard Mychal Mulder and Heat president Pat Riley.

The other two you’ll hear quite often when watching the Eastern Conference Finals. Tyler Herro, who was a lottery pick during the 2019 NBA Draft and named this season’s Sixth man of the Year, averaged over 20 points per game in the regular season.

Herro is now averaging 13.8 points in 27.5 minutes per game in the playoffs. Against a Celtics defense that’s among the best in the NBA, the Heat will need a strong performance from the third-year guard.

As for the other, I hope you had guessed it by now, but it’s none other than Bam Adebayo. The big man has been tremendous this season and continues his dominance as one of the best two-way centers in the league.

Adebayo averaged 19.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game this season, his second season during his five-year career with a double-double average. Adebayo has also been on two All-Defensive teams. He’s currently averaging 14.6 points and 7.7 boards in the playoffs.

Both Herro and Adebayo should be able to shine bright for the Heat and will undoubtedly represent Kentucky well on the sports’ biggest stage.