NBA Finals — Day 1

LOS ANGELES — So for this year’s NBA Finals, I’ve decided to blog about the whole experience. This is my second year working as a Sports Illustrated assistant at the Finals, which is a pretty cool event to cover. In case you haven’t kept up with the playoffs, this year’s matchup is between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, an epic rivalry. The series starts here in Los Angeles, goes back to Boston, and finishes back in L.A. (if the series goes to games 6 or 7).

Just like last year, I’m working with fellow SI assistants Jordan Murph and Shawn Cullen. These guys, who are SI photographer John W. McDonough’s regular assistants, are ridiculously fun to work with. I’m here assisting SI staffer Bob Rosato. Today, we went to the arena (sans John, who is healing from having an NBA player land on his neck) to begin installing the 18 remote cameras between the two photographers. We got most of the cameras in place, which will make tomorrow (Game 1) much, much easier and less stressful.

During the games, Shawn and I will make sure the cameras and system they run on are working properly, as well as run memory cards to Jordan, who will be transmitting the images to the magazine. What’s cool about working Lakers’ games is the amount of celebrities that you bump into (literally) while walking in and around the court. I’m really looking forward to this series (I think the Lakers will take the Celts in 5), and I’ll have another post about Game 1 late tomorrow night or on Friday. Then it’s two days off in L.A., one of which is my birthday! Anyways, here’s a few pictures from today:

A view of the court from the catwalk.

Shawn installing a remote camera on top of the goal.

On the way back from lunch: From left, USA Today photographer Bert Hanashiro, Jordan, Shawn, and Bob.

Bob installing a remote camera in the catwalk above the court.

Jordan trying to figure out what is going on....