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The NBA Playoffs have tipped off — and you guessed it — the Stanford Cardinal are heavily featured as four former Cardinal basketball players are representing three different teams in the league’s postseason.
Playing in a bubble in Orlando, Brook Lopez and Robin Lopez are with the Milwaukee Bucks, who lost in Game 1 of their series against the de facto home team, Orlando Magic. KZ Okpala and his Miami Heat team defeated the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of their series while Dwight Powell and his Dallas Mavericks lost Game 1 of their series against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Lopez brothers helped Milwaukee to a 56-17 record this season, leading the NBA Central division by a grand total of 11 games when it was said and done. In Game 1 against Orlando, Brook logged 30 minutes and scored five points with four rebounds, a block, assist and a steal to his credit. Robin came off the bench with just two minutes played and scored two points with one rebound.
This season, Brook averaged 12.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.5 assists per game. His 2.4 blocks per game finished as a career high. Robin, on the other hand, averaged just 5.4 points per game and just 2.4 rebounds per contest, each finishing as the lowest totals of his career since his rookie season.
The Bucks tip off against Orlando in Game 2 of their series on Thursday, August 20 at 3:00 PM PT.
Okpala didn’t register any playing time in Game 1 for the Heat, and he played in five games this regular season with a total of 7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and an assist and block each this year.
They’ll be in action again on Thursday, August 20 at 11:00 AM PT.
Powell didn’t play in Game 1 either as he’s still nursing an Achilles injury in his return. He averaged 9.4 points and 5.7 rebounds across 40 games this season, having last played in January. Seems like he’ll continue to root on the Mavs from the bench until he’s fully healthy.
The team’s starting center will cheer them on when they attempt to get back in the win column with star Luka Doncic on Wednesday, August 19 at 6:00 PM PT.
Congratulations to each of the Cardinal members in the NBA Playoffs!