Marquette In The 2025 NBA Playoffs: 2nd Round Edition

We’ve got two former Marquette guys moving on to the conference semifinals, so here’s a schedule for you to keep tabs on them.

YOUR former Marquette Golden Eagles went 2-for-3 in NBA Playoffs first round series, at least in terms of guys who have an on-court impact. Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks couldn’t get past the Indiana Pacers, even though Giannis Antetokounmpo averaged 33.0 points, 15.4 rebounds, 6.6 assists, plus a steal and a block per game. Is that good? Seems good.

But Doc couldn’t cook up a way to support that effort from The Greek Freak, and so his season is over. Two former Marquette guys are on to the second round, although only one of them had a real on-court impact on his team so far in the playoffs.

Tyler Kolek — New York Knicks

As you might expect, the #34 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft didn’t get onto the court for the New York Knicks in their first round series against the Detroit Pistons. Things looked a little shaky for New York after they needed a late 21-0 run to win Game 1, 123-112, before losing Game 2, 100-94. The remaining four games in the series were decided by a grand total of nine points, and since the Pistons won Game 5, the Knicks were just +3 in their wins. Literally the narrowest of margins! Jalen Brunson was The Guy in the series, going for 31.5 points per game and adding 4.0 rebounds and a team high 8.2 assists. Karl-Anthony Towns chipped in a double-double on average on 19.7 points and 10.0 rebounds, and it feels like head coach Tom Thibodeau could be doing a liiiiiittle bit more to diversify the offense and open the floor up a bit.

The Knicks will tangle with the Boston Celtics in the second round after the C’s beat Orlando 4-1 in their first round series. Boston won their four games fairly handily, falling by just two, 95-93, in the one game that the Magic took from them. It’s no surprise that Jayson Tatum was a menace in the series, leading the Celtics in both points and rebounds at 31.3 and 11.3 respectively. Technically, Tatum led them in assists as well, since he averaged 5.3 in the four games that he played and Jrue Holiday averaged 5.5 in just two contests. Tatum’s missed game was Game 2 after suffering a bone bruise late in Game 1. That was all way back on April 20th and 23rd, so I suspect that there’s not too much to worry about in that department for this series.

Game 1: Mon. May 5, 6pm Central, TNT
Game 2: Wed. May 7, 6pm Central, TNT
Game 3: Sat. May 10, TBD, ABC
Game 4: Mon. May 12, TBD, ESPN
Game 5*: Wed. May 14, TBD, TNT
Game 6*: Fri. May 16, TBD, ESPN
Game 7*: Mon. May 19, 7pm Central, TNT

Jimmy Butler — Golden State Warriors

It took seven games for the #7 seeded Golden State Warriors to find their way past the #2 seeded Houston Rockets in the first round. The Rockets won Games 5 and 6 to force the decisive contest on Monday night, but there wasn’t much drama involved by the time that one wound to its conclusion. Buddy Hield lit the Rockets up for 9-for-11 three-point shooting in Game 7 to lead the Dubs with 33 points, and Golden State went up 94-74 with 2:31 to play off — yep, you guessed it — a Hield three.

Hield was the star in Game 7, but he was just GSW’s #4 scorer behind Steph Curry, Brandin Podziemski, and our guy, Jimmy Butler. The former Marquette star averaged 18.3 points, a team high 6.0 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game against the Rockets, even though he missed most of Game 2 and all of Game 3 after Amen Thompson took Butler’s legs out from underneath him on a rebound.

It’s a surprise by way of seed line for Golden State to be here, and the same can be said for their second round opponent. The Minnesota Timberwolves are the #6 seed in the Western Conference, but they crumpled the #3 seeded Los Angeles Lakers up into a ball in their 4-1 series victory. Anthony Edwards was the top scorer at 26.8 per game, and 22.6 a night from Julius Randle went a long way as well. Ant-Man led the T-Wolves in assists at 6.2 per game, while Rudy Gobert was the leading rebounder with 9.8 per game against Luka, LeBron, and the Lakers.

Game 1: Tuesday, May 6, 8:30pm Central, TNT
Game 2: Thursday, May 8, 7:30pm Central, TNT
Game 3: Saturday, May 10, 7:30pm Central, ABC
Game 4: Monday, May 12, 9pm Central, ESPN
Game 5*: Wednesday, May 14, TBD, TNT
Game 6*: Sunday, May 18, TBD
Game 7*: Tuesday, May 20, 7:30pm Central, ESPN

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