Where Will Amazing Happen This Year?

For professional players of the National Basketball Association, the greatest achievement is to play in an NBA Finals game. Reaching this goal means you are one of the best of the best. You have fought through round after round of other teams to make it to the ending point. After battling injuries through a grueling 82 games in the regular season as well as an average of 20 hard fought playoff games, the only thing standing between you and the glory of being the top team in the nation is the other team right across from you trying to do the same thing. It is you vs. them, and the winner is given “championship rings” as a symbol of the victory.

            When it comes to that time of year for the NBA finals to be played, there are a number of ads that circulate throughout magazines and television, which makes people more excited to watch the games. There was one such ad in an ESPN magazine that stood out to me. The ad was one that shows the progression of the game of basketball from where it began to where it is now, starting from the early 1960’s of basketball and going all the way to the modern age of stars like Kevin Garnett and Lebron James. 

The Progression of Basketball

            When you first even glance at the ad, you immediately see a darkened court, and if you look closely you can see in the background are the thousands of fans in the stands cheering the players on. You also notice the flashes of cameras to get every action on the court as possible. Starting from the top of the three point line on the court is an image of what looks like a player from the early days of basketball. He is dribbling the ball towards the hoop. As you look at the ad, you see there are about six or seven different players on the court, all of them dribbling towards the hoop. But the funny thing is that all of these players come from different eras of the game of basketball. As you get closer to the hoop, the players get more modern and recognizable. This type of ad shows that ever since the very creation of the game, people have had one goal in mind: reach the NBA finals and win to show the nation that you are the best team in the land.

            For those that follow the NBA, they may recognize that almost every era of basketball is represented in the ad, with players like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Shaquille O’Neal among others in the ad. Some things that stood out in the ad was how perfectly in a row all the players represented are. They are also all doing something different, weather it be dribbling, running, shooting, or dunking. All are in the motion of going to the basketball hoop, but some are at a different peak in their jump, or at a different area on the court. The closer to the hoop, the closer that player is to making his shot.

            In the early days of basketball, short shorts were common to every one. But as time progressed, basketball shorts became longer and longer down the players legs. This was a style change that caught on in the later years of basketball, around the 1980’s. You see in the ad that the first few players are wearing very short shorts. As you get to Michael Jordan, you see that his shorts are longer, because it was a little before his time that longer shorts became a popular trend among basketball athletes.

Another thing that I noticed about the ad was how the basketball court was darkened with only a single light shining on the players. Normally when a basketball game is played, it would make sense that the court would be lit with more than just one spotlight shining near the hoop. Why is that? Well for the creators of the ad, I believe they obviously wanted to give the focus mainly to the players and to not have them lost in the ad. If the lighting was like a normal basketball game, the players would almost fade into the crowd and it would be harder to distinguish which player he is. Another reason for the lighting is to put the players on center stage, as if the whole world was watching, which is really what happens. To put you in the mood, the ad creators make it seem like each player is going for the game winning shot, to win the NBA finals and be crowned the champions of the nation. 

Comparisons between former players like
Michael Jordan (left) are made to current players like
 Lebron James (Right)

One final thing that stood out to me about the ad was the actual players themselves. If you look closely, you will see a common trend as to which of the 30 teams are represented. You notice that out of the seven players represented, five of them are in Los Angeles Lakers or Boston Celtics jerseys. Why did the ad favor these teams so much? If you know much about basketball history, you may know that the Lakers and Celtics are bitter rivals, having played many NBA finals games against each other. The majority of early Finals games have been played by theses two teams, so it is only fitting to show who has been dominating the NBA for so long.

Even with most of the players in the ad wearing Boston or Los Angeles jerseys, the ad wouldn’t be complete without the greatest player to ever play the game: Michael Jordan. Jordan’s face and stance in the ad is especially intriguing because he is in his well known, legs spread, feet out, mouth open dunk attempt. This dunk stance is his signature, and its even the logo on his Nike shoe brand “Jordan”.

The words across the ad read: “Where will amazing happen this year?” Amazing things happen in the finals. Teams come back to win, teams lose in disappointing fashion, or it will go down to one shot in the last game 7 with everyone in the country sitting at the edge of their seats. The ad’s statement can excite anyone even with its five words. The words give somewhat of a mystery as to what actually might happen this year. Not only that, but it also give some hope to fans of all the teams in the league that their team might actually have a shot at getting to the finals, even if their team is very bad. Every year is different in the NBA, and every team has a shot at making it to the big game.

            The overall point of the ad is to get fans excited for the biggest game of the year for basketball. It shows the importance of the finals for each era of the game, and the different players who defined those eras. The NBA wants people to be drawn to the game to not only increase television ratings, but to continue on the tradition that basketball has carried on since the beginning of the 20^th century.
                                Watch An amazing video featuring old and new players