Former Blue Devils in the NBA Playoffs

Well, there’s just one former Duke men’s basketball player still alive in the NBA Playoffs. That would be Miami’s Shane Battier.

The Miami Heat are in the Eastern Conference Finals facing the Boston Celtics. The Heat lead the series 1-0. Battier started Game 1 and scored ten points on 4-of-11 shooting. He hauled in ten rebounds, dished out two assists, and blocked two shots over 36 minutes. He was one of three players to score in double-figures (behind LeBron James and Dwayne Wade).

In the conference semifinals, where the Heat ousted the Indiana Pacers (and former Blue Devil Dahntay Jones), Battier started four of the six games. He averaged 3.8 PPG and 3.3 RPG.

 

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Speaking of Jones, he played in all six games of the conference semifinals. He averaged 2.8 PPG. He scored five points twice, once coming in just seven minutes in the Pacers Game 3 victory over the Heat. In their Game 5 loss, Jones played 24 minutes, scored five points, and hauled in three offensive rebounds.

The Philadelphia Sixers hung tight with the Celtics in the conference semifinals (they fought hard to force a Game 7), but couldn’t pull out the series win. Former Blue Devil Elton Brand had himself a fairly good series despite the losing feeling.

He started all seven games and really came on strong in the final three games. He averaged 15.6 points over those three games. He hauled in ten rebounds in the Sixers Game 6 victory.

Josh McRoberts only played in three of the LA Lakers conference semifinal games (all losses to the OKC Thunder). The most minutes he played this postseason was nine in a May 14th loss to the Thunder. In that game, he scored two points and hauled in two rebounds.

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