Indiana University Athletics
Former #IUBB All-Americans in NBA Playoffs
4/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 20, 2015
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Former IU All-Americans Randy Wittman (Head Coach, Washington Wizards) and Eric Gordon (Guard, New Orleans Pelicans) look to help their teams advance in the 2015 NBA Playoffs.
Wittman will lead the No. 5 seeded Wizards against No. 4 Toronto in the first round. Washington has a 1-0 lead with the series set to resume Tuesday night in Toronto. This marks the second straight year that Wittman has guided Washington to the playoffs. Last year, he saw his team make it to the conference semifinals. He also has been an NBA head coach at Minnesota and Cleveland.
He played at IU from 1979-83 and was a member of the 1981 NCAA Championship squad. An All-American in 1983, he finished 15th in career scoring with 1,549 points. He was picked 22nd in the 1983 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets, but was traded to Atlanta to begin his career.
Gordon is part of a New Orleans squad that is facing the top seed in the West, Golden State, in the first round of the playoffs. Golden State has a 1-0 lead in a series that resumes tonight. For Gordon, he is making his first NBA Playoff appearance and had 16 points in Game 1.
He was a Hoosier for the 2007-08 season, earning All-American and Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors before being selected with the 7th pick of the 2008 NBA Draft. He played three seasons with the Clippers and averaged a career-best 22.3 points in 2010-11. He was traded to New Orleans the following season and has an overall career average of 16.4 points per game.
