Behind The Scenes Of The 2008 NBA Finals

The 2008 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics kicked off June 5 in Boston, reviving an historic basketball rivalry. ChannelWeb was on-hand for a behind-the-scenes look at Game 1 of the best-of-seven series and the technology that keeps it all running smoothly. Here's an insider's view of the festivities.

Boston fans revived their "Beat L.A." battle cry, a mantra that is said to have first surfaced during the Celtics' 1982 Eastern Conference finals loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at the old Boston Garden. When it became obvious that the 76ers -- not the Celtics -- would advance to the finals to face the Lakers, Boston fans spurred Philly on to "beat L.A." The phrase has since become a hallmark chant for Celtics fans whenever the team goes up against Los Angeles, and it resurfaced in the days leading up to this year's NBA Finals. T-shirts sporting the slogan draped each seat before Game 1 got underway. The Celtics and the Lakers have met 10 times in the NBA finals, most recently in 1987, which the Lakers won four games to two.

Local news crews gathered courtside in Boston's TD Banknorth Garden for their pre-game broadcasts.

Three empty stools await their occupants, the ESPN announcers who would later provide televised commentary for the game. They bear the names "Jeff," "Mike" and "Mark" for Jeff Van Gundy, Mike Breen and Mark Jackson, ESPN's on-air crew.

Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen practices his jump shot before the game. Allen, along with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, are known as Boston's "Big Three."

Basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabar, now a special assistant coach for the L.A. Lakers, gives press interviews along the sidelines before the game. Abdul-Jabar played 20 seasons in the NBA, 14 of them with the Los Angeles Lakers. He holds the record as the NBA's all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points.

Celtics team captain Paul Pierce warms up by shooting free throws before the game. The Celtics poked fun at one of L.A.'s most famous fans, actor Jack Nicholson, by playing off of Pierce's nickname, "The Truth." In a video broadcast on the arena's JumboTron during the game, clips of Nicholson delivering the famous line "You can't handle the truth" from the film "A Few Good Men" were mixed with a montage of Pierce's playing highlights. Coincidentally, Pierce grew up in California and was a Lakers fan as a kid.

Singer James Taylor rehearses the "Star-Spangled Banner" as a warm-up for his pre-game performance later in the evening. Boston-born Taylor also performed the national anthem at Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox during their 2004 and 2007 World Series appearances. The Red Sox won both championships.

Steve Hellmuth, executive vice president of operations and technology for NBA Entertainment, showcases the league's scoring and timing system. "You're not a league without stats, and you're not a digital league without real-time stats," Hellmuth said. The system provides access to the game clock, score, statistics and video clips for broadcasters, journalists and Web sites around the globe. The data is also stored for use by NBA coaches and players.

Jay Wessel, vice president of technology for the Boston Celtics, explains the capabilities of the timing system, which comes from vendor Precision Time Systems, Bolivia, N.C. The computerized system gives referees complete control over the game clock, eliminating errors and inefficiencies, Wessel said. The referee wears a belt pack that can start the clock, and a microphone tuned to respond to the frequency of his whistle. The clock stops the instant the ref blows his whistle.

Lenovo X60 Tablet PCs run the league's scoring software. The touch-screen capability has dramatically improved the accuracy of the scoring system, Wessel said. Several of the tablet PCs are in use at each game, one as the system for the primary scorer and one for backup.

The scoring and timing system also feeds video clips and real-time statistics to the huge JumboTron that hangs over center court.

The set-up behind the scenes lacks the glitz and glamour of center court, but this is where it all happens. A Lenovo server and Cisco Systems networking gear make sure all the data gets to the right places.

There is a method to the madness when it comes to this mess of cables. The scoring and timing system runs on a dedicated network that is fed by two separate copper runs for redundancy, as well as fibre run to copper from an entirely different corner of the building "just in case someone comes along with clippers," Wessel said.

This Samsung display in the press area shows live statistics to reporters watching the game.

The NBA's Website, NBA.com, sees heavy action throughout the finals. Steve Grimes, vice president of interactive services for the NBA, expected the site to get 5 million to 6 million visits on game day. The site has had a record 1.2 billion visits this season, feeding 300 million video streams to 200 countries.

If you're one of those people who eats, sleeps and breathes basketball, have we got the network for you. The league advertised its own NBA TV network with these wearable TVs. Note that there's no obvious way to change the channel.

After the tech tour was over, ChannelWeb took in the rest of the sites. Here, a Celtics fan holds up a sign referencing Boston's 16 NBA championships and its quest for one more.

The Celtics take the floor for the start of Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals.

Yes, there is another team here too. The Los Angeles Lakers warm up before the start of the game. There were yellow Lakers jerseys visible on some of the 18,624 folks in attendance, but just a few.

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant takes the floor and is greeted by teammates during introductions before the game.

Paul Pierce drives to the hoop amid a flurry of Lakers arms.

The Celtics were down by five points at half time but came back to win with a final score of 98-88, giving them a 1-0 lead in the series.

In a post-game press conference, Celtics head coach Glenn "Doc" Rivers was peppered with questions about the health of team captain Paul Pierce, who sustained a knee injury during the game. Rivers responded, "Doc is just a nickname."

Lakers Head Coach Phil Jackson took questions from the media following his team's loss. Jackson is vying for his 10th NBA Championship as a coach. He currently is tied for most all-time championships at nine with Red Auerbach, the beloved former coach of the Boston Celtics.

Two of the Celtics' Big Three, Paul Pierce (left) and Kevin Garnett, talk about the team's victory during a post-game press conference.

The Lakers and the Celtics are scheduled to return to Boston for Game 2 of the series on Sunday, June 8, before heading back to L.A.