West Virginia alum Joe Mazzulla heads to NBA Finals

With the Boston Celtics victory over the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on Monday, a former West Virginia basketball alum has punched his ticket to the NBA Finals -- and is making some significant history along the way.

Former WVU guard Joe Mazzulla, who played from 2006-2011 in Morgantown, has helmed Boston for two seasons now and has earned a potential opportunity to capture an NBA Championship -- Mazzulla is the youngest NBA coach to take his team to the Finals since Bill Russell in 1969. He will now look to become just the third Mountaineer product (Jerome Anderson, Jerry West) to capture a ring in the NBA, and the first to do so as a head coach.

As a coach, Mazzulla has even further ties to the state of West Virginia, having served as an assistant coach at Glenville State and Fairmont State before helming Fairmont from 2017-2019, taking the program to the NCAA Tournament once during his tenure.

The Celtics will face the champions of the Western Conference in the NBA Finals, which is currently being fought for between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves -- Dallas owns a 3-0 lead in the series.