The Boston Celtics are heading to the NBA Finals, and one of the team’s biggest fans is very excited. Nia Long, who is engaged to Celtics head coach Ime Udoka, went to Twitter to post a video of her jumping and yelling after the team defeated the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. And on Instagram, Long posted a photo of her fiancé and wrote “Speechless….patience and purpose.”
Long, 51, and Udoka, 44, have been together since 2010 and share a son. They got engaged in 2015, but Long recently told Essence that she has no plans to marry anytime soon. “Love is complicated, let’s just start there,” Long said. “And then you start a marriage, which I’ve never been married. And there’s a reason for that because I don’t know that I need to say ‘I do’ to prove to you that I love you. But also, what does marriage really [mean]… that you own me now and I own you? I don’t get that part.”
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For Now, Long will continue to support Udoka and the Celtics as they face the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals starting on Thursday. The Celtics are looking to win their 18th title overall and first since 2008. The Warriors are looking to win their seventh title overall and fourth since 2015. Last year, Long spoke exclusively to PopCulture.com about Udoka becoming the Celtics’ head coach.
“I’ll never forget the moment,” the actress said. “We were sort of waiting for the call all week. I was anxious. He’s always calm, like totally calm. I’m cleaning, folding laundry, cooking, because I’m just so nervous. I had to keep myself busy. And I was on a call and I got off the call. I was actually on a call about The Best Man and I got off the call. And I looked down the hallway and he just smiled and shook his head in the yes position. And I ran down the hall and jumped on him. And I think I almost, probably, broke his back. Extra 15 from COVID is not easy to catch.” Udoka is in his first season with the Celtics and after spending the last nine years as an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets.
