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Here are six Rhode Island connections to the 2024 NBA Finals

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6 months ago

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Here are six Rhode Island connections to the 2024 NBA Finals

As the Boston Celtics play for their 18th NBA championship — which started with a decisive 107-89 victory in Thursday’s Game 1 against the Dallas Mavericks — we decided to take a look at Rhode Island’s connections to this title series — and there are more than you might think.

It’s very well known that Boston’s head coach, Joe Mazzulla hails from Johnson, and starred on the court for Bishop Hendricken long before he started his coaching journey. But the connections to the Ocean State don’t end there.

Here are six Rhode Island connections to the 2024 NBA Finals:

Joe Mazzulla, Celtics coach

The Johnston native is the son of the late Dan Mazzulla, the Bryant University Hall of Famer and longtime coach with the Johnston Panthers. Joe Mazzulla was a star player for Bishop Hendricken High School (Class of 2006) and a Providence Journal All-Stater who helped the Hawks win three consecutive RIIL basketball championships, beginning in his sophomore year.

More: RI’s own Joe Mazzulla will coach the Boston Celtics. Here’s what to know about him.

Mazzulla attended West Virginia University and was coached by the legendary Bob Huggins. After college, Mazzulla began as an assistant coach at Division II Glenville State College in West Virginia in 2011. He then joined the staff at Division II Fairmont State (2013-16), also in West Virginia. In 2016, he was an assistant with the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics’ affiliate in the development league before joining the staff of then-Celtics head coach Brad Stevens in 2019, and then under Ime Udoka. He became Boston’s head coach ahead of the 2022-23 season.

Doris Burke, NBA analyst and announcer on ESPN/ABC

Burke was a star for some excellent Providence Friars women’s teams in the mid-1980s. She led the Friars in assists for three seasons and was a first-team All-Big East selection in 1987. She was a member of the Big East All-Rookie Team in 1984, the Big East All-Tournament Team (1986, 1987) and All-American 1987 and graduated as PC’s all-time assist leader (602).

More: Doris Burke: Jersey Girl rising to the rafters at Providence College

She began coaching as an assistant under then-coach Bob Foley soon after graduation, but found her way to broadcasting not long after. In 1990, she joined ESPN and has covered the NBA Finals since 2009, first as a sideline reporter, then an analyst. Ahead of the 2017-18 seasons, Burke became the first female full-time, regular-season NBA analyst and on Thursday, she made history again. She became the first female game analyst on TV for a championship series in one of the four major U.S. sports.

God Shammgod, Dallas Mavericks assistant coach, head of player culture

Shammgod played for the Providence Friars for two years before being selected in the second round of the NBA Draft. A former McDonald’s All-American with an iconic dribbling move, he helped lead the Friars to the Elite Eight in 1997 and eventually went on to a professional career in the NBA and overseas. In Providence, he averaged 10.3 points, 6.6 assists, 2.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 32.5 minutes per game. After his playing career ended, he returned as part of then-head coach Ed Cooley’s coaching staff.

More: A move that made him a star: Ex-PC great Shammgod featured in doc about NYC point guards

According to the Mavericks’ website, Shammgod helps Maverick players develop their ball-handling skills through various on-court drills and he will be spending his second summer as an assistant coach for the Mavericks’ Las Vegas summer league team.

Kash Cannon, director of community engagement for the Celtics

Cannon is a Providence native who played basketball for Bay View Academy and then went on to Northeastern, where she had been a two-year captain and set the single-season 3-point mark in her senior year. After college, she took her skills to the community, and now helps the Celtics with outreach events to help improve the lives of people in need.

More: From Bay View to the Boston Celtics — Kash Cannon connects NBA stars with the community

“When you have something and you feel like it’s your purpose, that’s just what you do on a daily basis. Whether this was my job or not, I would be doing some type of community work in some type of form or fashion,” she told a Journal reporter this spring when she was back in Rhode Island, speaking to Bay View students.

Jeff Van Gundy, senior consultant to basketball operations for the Celtics

Most fans know Jeff Van Gundy as a longtime NBA game analyst for ESPN, who was let go last summer by the network along with his broadcast partner Mark Jackson. Or perhaps, you remember Van Gundy as an NBA head coach, first with the New York Knicks (1995-2002) and then with the Houston Rockets (2003-2007), an 11-season span in which he compiled a record of 430-318 (a .575 winning percentage). He was hired last year to help the Celtics compete for another championship, and so far, so good.

But what you might not remember is Van Gundy’s connection to Providence. In the 1986-87 season, Van Gundy was a graduate assistant under then-Friars head coach Rick Pitino — the year Providence reached the NCAA Final Four. The following season, he became an assistant coach under PC coach Gordie Chiesa, before leaving to become an assistant under head coach Bob Wenzel at Rutgers. In 1989, Van Gundy left the college ranks to become an assistant coach for the New York Knicks.

The Larry O’Brien Trophy

There’s one more RI connection that may not be quite as apparent.

When an NBA champion is crowned — and if you’re a Celtics fan, you’re hoping that happens on Friday, June 14 (Game 4) — the winning team is awarded the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The trophy is 2 feet tall and made of sterling silver and vermeil with a 24 karat gold overlay by Tiffany & Co., the famed New York City jeweler that operates a workshop in Cumberland.

According to Tiffany.com, the company has designed and handcrafted the trophy since 1977, and it’s made at its hollowware workshop in Rhode Island.

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