Nia Long Celebrates With a Dance as Fiancé and Celtics Head Coach Ime Udoka Reaches NBA Finals

Udoka and the Boston Celtics clinched an NBA Finals appearance on Sunday night with a Game 7 win over the Miami Heat.

The Boston Celtics have officially nabbed their spot in the 2022 NBA Finals and Nia Long is celebrating by showing off her moves. The Best Man actress took to Twitter to share her joy as the Celtics, coached by her fiancé, Ime Udoka, secured a victory against the Miami Heat on Sunday night. The Celtics won Game 7 against the Heat with a final score of 100-96.

"Yes!!!" Long captioned the video, which has received over 2.5 million views on Twitter. In the brief clip, the 51-year-old actress cheers, throws up her arms and even kicks up her leg in celebration.

On Monday, Long followed up her video with an Instagram post that highlighted Udoka taking the Celtics to the Finals in his first year as head coach. "Speechless….patience and purpose," she captioned the photo.

Long and Udoka share a 10-year-old son, Kez Sunday Udoka, as well as Long's son, Massai Zhivago Dorsey II, from a previous relationship. The couple has been engaged for almost a decade and the Friday actress told Essence in 2020 that they are comfortable not holding a wedding ceremony.

"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?" she added. "I don't get that part."

Meanwhile, the actress is currently filming Peacock's limited series The Best Man: Final ChaptersLong and the other original stars from the films --  Morris Chestnut, Melissa De Sousa, Taye DiggsRegina HallTerrence HowardSanaa Lathan and Harold Perrineau -- have all returned to reprise their iconic roles in the upcoming series. 

Based on the Universal movies by writer-director Malcolm D. Lee, Best Man: Final Chapters will catch up with Harper (Diggs), Robyn (Lathan), Jordan (Long), Lance (Chestnut), Quentin (Howard), Shelby (De Sousa), Candace (Hall) and Murch (Perrineau) as relationships evolve and past grievances resurface in the unpredictable stages of midlife crisis meets midlife renaissance.

Game 1 of the NBA Finals, between the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors, is set for Thursday, June 2. 

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