George Hill Graduates from IUPUI

Cleveland Cavaliers guard George Hill celebrated a personal milestone ahead of his team’s Game 1 clash with the Boston Celtics.

The 32 year old missed practice on Saturday to attend his graduation from IUPUI. George Hill received a diploma from the School of Liberal Arts. He then rejoined the Cleveland Cavaliers for their Eastern Conference finals opener against the Celtics, which they lost heavily.

George Hill, who also played for the Jaguars from 2004 – 2008, was one of two speakers to speak at the ceremony.

He joined the Cleveland Cavaliers in February, after being traded from the Sacramento Kings. Back spasms halted the start to his Cavs career, although he returned for the team’s four game sweep of Toronto.

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Hill has postseason experience from his time with the San Antonio Spurs as well as the Indiana Pacers. The Cavaliers have had trouble in his position since trading All-Star guard Kyrie Irving to the Celtics in the summer. The team has used several players in the guard position this NBA season.

The contrast between their struggles against Indiana and their sweep of the Toronto Raptors highlighted how he’s settled the position.

He returned for the final game of the series against the Indiana Pacers, scoring 11 points in the second half.

Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue was full of praise for the newly-graduated Hill:

“He’s been great,” he said. “Just coming into Game 7 versus Indiana, where he hadn’t played in three-plus games, to come out and play the half of basketball that he played, he was tremendous. So, just his experience of being in the playoffs, being in the Eastern Conference finals when he played for Indiana, playing against the Miami teams, he knows what it’s about.

“It’s great having a veteran like that on the team.”