You’d understand if Jeff Battle felt conflicted during the NBA’s conference finals. Battle coached Golden State forward David West and Cleveland assistant coach James Posey while he was an assistant coach at Xavier. Both already have championship rings (Posey as a player with Boston and West with Golden State) and are looking to add to their collections.
A week ago, it looked as though a third Battle pupil might add his own. Chris Paul and the Houston Rockets led the Western final, 3-2, before Paul went down with a hamstring injury at the end of Game 5 and did not return for the rest of the series.