X-Nico

3 unusual facts about NBA Finals


Dan Crawford

Beginning with the 2006-07 NBA season, Crawford has officiated in 1,425 regular season, 191 playoff, and 18 NBA Finals games.

Eddie Palladino

A Celtics season ticket holder, during the '70s and '80s, Palladino called the 2008 NBA playoffs at the TD Banknorth Garden and saw the Celtics clinch their 17th NBA Championship, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2008 NBA Finals.

Otis Livingston

He reported on the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Finals, the World Series, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, the U.S. Open Golf Championship, the Triple Crown, and the New York City Marathon.


Bennett Salvatore

As of the 2006–07 NBA season, Salvatore has officiated 1,385 regular season, 167 playoff, and 20 NBA Finals games.

Frank Umont

Umpires on that crew included eventual Hall of Fame inductee Doug Harvey from the National League; Don Denkinger, who would go on to work in the AL for 29 seasons and is best remembered for his missed call in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series; and Jake O'Donnell, who left umpiring after that season to focus on his NBA officiating career, which would see him work the NBA Finals in every season from 1972 through 1994.

Gordon Chiesa

Chiesa is one of a select few assistant coaches to serve in both the NBA Finals (1997 and 1998) and the NCAA Final Four (1987).

Rockeye

The opening track, "Winning It All," was used between 1992 and 1996 at the end of NBC's telecasts of the NBA Finals.


see also

1974–75 Kentucky Colonels season

Brown was a coach with the 1973-74 Milwaukee Bucks, which made the 1974 NBA Finals with future Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson and lost in seven games to a legendary Boston Celtics championship team.

Beamer, Benz, or Bentley

DJ Felli Fel used the beat to make "Lakers Anthem 2010" to support the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2010 NBA Finals.

Jess Kersey

Joining the NBA in 1973, Kersey was a highly regarded referee and officiated at the 1975 ABA All-Star Game, the NBA All-Star Games in 1983, 1987 and 2002, and the NBA Finals in 1983, 1984 and 1991.

Puroslam

During a 128-week span starting in December 2002 and ending during a San Antonio Spurs NBA Finals game in 2005, PuroSlam attracted over 100 paid fans each and every week, including a seven-week span in the summer of 2004 when over 200 people walked through its glass doors every Tuesday.

Vernon Maxwell

The nickname "Mad Max" was bestowed upon Maxwell by color commentators for his clutch three-point shooting, which reached its pinnacle in the deciding game of the 1994 NBA Finals between Houston and New York.