ALSTON TO MAKE BULLDOG HISTORY TONIGHT

Rafer Alston will become the first Fresno State basketball player to play in the NBA Finals when the Orlando Magic visit the L.A. Lakers this evening.

From gobulldogs.com:

On the biggest stage in the game of basketball, former Bulldog Rafer Alston and his Orlando Magic have earned a showdown in the NBA Finals with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Alston is primed to do something no Bulldog has yet to do – play in the NBA Finals.

Alston, Fresno State’s single-season assists leader (240) during the 1997-98 campaign that ended in Madison Square Garden and the NIT Semifinals, started the season with the Houston Rockets before heading to Orlando in a February trade.

On the season, the nine-year veteran has averaged 11.7 points and 5.3 assists per game, but stepped up with a career playoff high 26 points in the Magic’s critical game four 116-114 overtime win to put Orlando in the driver’s seat of the Eastern Conference Finals.

“You can almost taste it,” Alston said after that victory. “We’ve got to win one more game and it’s not going to be easy.”

Alston can now fully enjoy the sweet taste of competing against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers for the ultimate prize.

That one more win came tonight against arguably one of the best players in the history of the NBA in Lebron James and an opponent, the Cleveland Cavaliers, that had secured home-court advantage throughout the playoffs by earning the best regular season record in the league.

The win sends Orlando back to the Finals for a second apperance, with the only other time coming back in 1995.

The Magic open the NBA Finals on Thursday night in Los Angeles’ Staples Center. The game will be broadcast on ABC.

One Bulldog has already claimed a championship ring.

Melvin Ely, another former Bulldog star who remains Fresno State’s all-time leading scorer, did win a title and ring for the San Antonio Spurs in 2007, but did not play during the Finals.

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