Five Bruins Advance to NBA's Conference Semifinals
May 05, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Bruin Varsity Club
The UCLA men's basketball program has five former players on rosters of NBA teams that have advanced to the NBA's conference semifinals, which get underway this week.
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Jaylen Clark (Minnesota), Jrue Holiday (Boston Celtics), Kevon Looney (Golden State Warriors), Peyton Watson (Denver Nuggets) and Russell Westbrook (Denver) are all competing on NBA teams that have advanced in the 2025 postseason.
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Watson and Westbrook have teamed up with Denver this season, helping the Nuggets advance to the NBA's conference semifinals with a seven-game series victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. In the seven-game series, Westbrook averaged 13.8 points and 4.8 rebounds while Watson registered 4.4 points and 2.6 rebounds.
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No. 4-seed Denver will face No. 1-seed Oklahoma City in a best-of-seven game series starting on Monday at 6:30 p.m. (PT) in Oklahoma City.
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Jrue Holiday, who helped Boston win the NBA Finals in 2024, moves into the semifinals of the Eastern Conference this week with the Celtics. Holiday played in two games in the postseason series, averaging 10.0 points and 5.5 assists per game.
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The No. 2-seed Boston Celtics defeated the No. 7-seed Orlando Magic by a 4-1 margin last week and will take on the No. 3-seed New York Knicks in a best-of-seven series. Boston will host the Knicks in Game 1 on Monday at 4 p.m. (PT).
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Kevon Looney, who has won NBA titles with Golden State in 2017, 2018 and 2022, has advanced through to the conference semifinals with the Golden State Warriors. No. 7-seed Golden State won a game seven showdown against Houston on Sunday evening, advancing into a best-of-seven series against the No. 6-seed Minnesota Timberwolves. Looney averaged 1.7 points and 2.9 rebounds for the Warriors in all seven games.
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Clark played in one of the five games for Minnesota in a best-of-seven game series against the No. 3-seed Los Angeles Lakers. Minnesota closed out the series against the Lakers on Wednesday, April 30, with a 103-96 victory in Los Angeles.
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Golden State will open against Minnesota on Tuesday, May 6. Game time at Minnesota's Target Center is set for 6:30 p.m. PT (8:30 p.m. CT, in Minneapolis).
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UCLA's program has seen at least one of its former players win the NBA title in eight of the past nine NBA seasons โ including in each of the last four. Last summer, Holiday helped the Boston Celtics win the NBA title. In 2024, Watson played for the Denver Nuggets when that organization won its first-ever NBA championship. In 2021, Holiday helped the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA championship, while in 2022, Kevon Looney (Golden State Warriors) was a part of his third NBA title-winning team with the Warriors.
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Western Conference Semifinals
(1) Oklahoma City Thunder vs. (4) Denver Nuggets
series set to begin on Monday, May 5
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(6) Minnesota Timberwolves vs. (7) Golden State Warriors
series set to begin on Tuesday, May 6
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Eastern Conference Semifinals
(1) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (4) Indiana Pacers
Indiana leads the series, 1-0
Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6
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(2) Boston Celtics vs. (3) New York Knicks
series set to begin on Monday, May 5
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