Here I am at the most thrilling basketball game ever played.

It’s day three in Beijing and last night’s basketball game, (America — known as the “Redeem Team” — vs. China) has electrified the air. It was China’s biggest basketball match imaginable!

Before the game, LeBron James said “I expect it to be electrified. It’s probably going to be the most watched game in the history of the world. It’s going to send a lot of chills through my body just to be there and to be part of it.”

SHANGHAI, CHINA – AUGUST 05: LeBron James #6 of the USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team dunks during the USA Basketball International Challenge exhibition game against the Australia National Team at the Qizhong Arena on August 5, 2008 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by MN Chan/Getty Images)

I was very lucky to go to the game and experience it with the rest of the 18,000 basketball fans. It’s worth noting here that most of the fans were cheering for the underdog – China.

Photographers Gareth Cattermole and Chris Hyde at the basketball game.

I went to the game with a few of our photographers and we all struggled to find a spot to stand in, let alone sit. We were constantly moved about and our all-access pass didn’t find any of us a seat. So we wandered around the media circle and found a space by the barrier, halfway up the stadium.

Former president George W. Bush was in town, along with Bill Gates. I would have never been able to spot them but the photographers I was with (Gareth Cattermole and Chris Hyde) clearly see the world differently. They have this amazing ability to pick people out of the crowd. This is why they are the photographers – amazing ones at that – and I stick to the desk job.

The game was cited as drawing the biggest global television audience in basketball history – an estimated one billion viewers tuned in.

HANGZHOU, CHINA – JULY 17: (CHINA OUT) Yao Ming of China shoots during a match between China and Serbia at the 2008 Stankovic Continental Champions Cup on July 17, 2008 in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province, China. Ming plays also for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the U.S. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

China got off to a great start and proved that they were definitely going to be contenders for a medal. The Chinese crowd would frequently shout out the well-known Chinese sporting chant, “Jiayou” or “add oil” to their team, encouraging them to keep the momentum going. But the experience of the US team paid off in the end and the US won 107-70 – a respectable score for the host nation against the world’s best.

SHANGHAI, CHINA – AUGUST 03: Kobe Bryant #10 of the USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team dribbles against the Russian National Team during the USA Basketball International Challenge exhibition game at the Qizhong Arena on August 3, 2008 in Shanghai, China.

It took us an hour to get out of the stadium and it was a long journey back to the media village in torrential rain (that didn’t stop until early this morning). But it was worth the walk in the rain – it was an incredible evening and a privilege to see live!

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BOSTON – JUNE 05: Fans of the Los Angeles Lakers support their team outside the arena prior to Game One of the 2008 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics on June 5, 2008 at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Darren McCollester/NBAE/Getty Images)

It’s true.

The two most storied rivals, the two winningest franchises and most importantly the two best teams in the NBA will play starting tonight (Thursday, June 5) in the NBA Finals.

And no, Reagan isn’t in the White House, hair bands aren’t dominating the radio (reality shows instead), and shoulder pads aren’t back in women’s clothing.

Instead, the Lakers and Celtics will meet for the 11^th time in a Finals but for the first time in 21 years, also the last time the Celtics have made it this far.

A dream match-up for the NBA, for ABC TV, and a dream match-up for me as a fan of the NBA – and the Lakers as well.

Being in Boston for a little more than 24 hours now, you can see the Celtic pride all over the city: banners hanging off buildings, fans rocking T-shirts and vendors setting up shop selling souvenirs all over town. They even changed the time of the Boston Red Sox game tonight so the fans could attend the MLB game and then get home in time to watch the basketball game.

BOSTON – JUNE 05: Cars drive by a giant Celtics banner and a large replica of the Larry O’Brien championship trophy across from the TD Banknorth Garden prior to Game One of the 2008 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers on June 5, 2008 at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE/Getty Images)

Getty Images has a full team to cover all the happenings inside the TD Banknorth Garden (the Boston Garden was such a better name) including two local photographers in staffer Elsa and stringer Jim Rogash. Plus, staffer Kevin Cox is in town from North Carolina.

Myself and Mary Ciecek flew out yesterday from Los Angeles and will handle all the editing and Anthony Jacobs from New York will be our on-site IT support. An entirely different team of shooters will be in Los Angeles for games 3, 4, and 5. Let’s call them our west coast team.

So stay tuned for more on a NBA Finals that many are saying will be a classic.

BOSTON – JUNE 05: Kevin Garnett #5 of the Boston Celtics walks across the court in Game One of the 2008 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers on June 5, 2008 at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

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Getty Images photographer Lisa Blumenfeld is interviewed by Canal + in Spain.

They stared and followed.

Wondering what was going on, Getty Images staff photographer Lisa Blumenfeld was wondering why a group of cameras seemed interested in her.

So she asked.

They told her they were interested in following a photographer for Game Four of the 2007 NBA Finals. Despite being hesitant and having to lay down ground rules (can’t bother her or editors during the game and no technical questions on how GI sets up their equipment) she told the three man crew ok.

Three men – a reporter, a cameraman and a boom mic operator – from Canal + in Spain, followed her on the court, in the transmit room and even set up an interview afterwards.

We called it media following the media.

The group of men from Spain were more interested in how the process of taking pictures work and how we got the photos out to our clients than the Spurs winning the 2007 NBA Championship.

What footage they took from following Lisa will be turned into a feature and played nationally in Spain on Canal +. They promised us back in the United States a copy as well.

“The interview went well, they were just curious how long I have been working for Getty and how often I shoot basketball,” Lisa said. “They wanted to know who my favorite athletes to shoot were and I told them Kobe Bryant and LaDainian Tomlinson.”

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74632676 Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

CLEVELAND – JUNE 14: Tony Parker #9 and Manu Ginobili #20 of the San Antonio Spurs celebrate the win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game Four of the NBA Finals on June 14, 2007 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

It’s over before it barely started.

In the case of the Cavs, it hardly did.

A 4-0 sweep by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals just adds to the fact that something needs to change in the NBA during the play-offs and finals. The best match up of the entire play-offs was the Phoenix Suns and Spurs but that happened all the way back in the second round.

There was lots of talk at the NBA Finals about switching the way play-off rankings are made and go to a 1-16 system, similar to that of the Sweet 16 in college basketball. This would allow the top Western Conference teams to not meet until the finals.

I think with some tweaking it could work, but that is up to the Commissioner David Stern and the other owners.

74632676 Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

CLEVELAND – JUNE 14: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers dunks the ball in Game Four of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs on June 14, 2007 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

As for the season that ended on Thursday, not much will be remembered from the Finals other than having LeBron James of the Cavs playing in his first championship. The Spurs winning again (4th time in nine seasons) only justifies their claim as the leagues best ever team.

Team Getty Images: (L-R) DJ Maria, Gregory Shamus, Travis Lindquist, Collin Pierson, Maxx Wolfson, Ronald Martinez and Lisa Blumenfeld (Missing Mary Ciecek)

As for the Getty Images staff that covered the finals it ended kind of bittersweet. Yes, it was nice to get home after being on the road for the past month plus, but it would have been nice to see a breakout game by James. He really only had one memorable dunk (game four) and one memorable shot (the miss that ended game three).

As for next season, San Antonio has to remain the favorite to repeat along with the same cast of characters – Phoenix, Dallas, Detroit and Houston.

The only hoops left for this summer is the WNBA.

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74581704 Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

A general view of the Quicken Loans Arena during Game Three of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers on June 12, 2007 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

No team in NBA history has ever comeback from a 0-3 deficit.

As for the Cavs, playing in their first NBA Finals in their 37-year-old history, the end might come a lot sooner than anyone expected.

Where did the team go that took four straight games from the Detroit Pistons last series?

74581618 Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers falls back on his follow through after shooting a 3-point shot in Game Three of the NBA Finals on June 12, 2007 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

For one, James hasn’t been playing been as dominant as he had against the Pistons, but it’s been his supporting class that let the 22-year-old down last night.

In what turned out to be the second-lowest scoring finals game (75-72) in NBA history (Fort Wayne defeated Syracuse 74-71 in 1955) the Cavs find themselves facing a hill that might be to tough to climb.

As for me, unless the Cavs can find someway to score from guys not named James, I’m going home on Friday without knowing how much “Cleveland Rocks.”

The only good news is James is a Cav for the next couple years meaning in the future I can be right back here with an older, more experienced James.

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71900994 Paul Spinelli/Getty Images

A general view of the city skyline, Lake Erie and Cleveland lakefront harbor, a docked boat, and stadium exterior.

Being that this was my first trip to Cleveland I was hoping that I would get some time in to explore. Who knows when I’ll get a chance to come back?

Unfortunately the Cleveland Cavaliers are ruining my plans to become a tourist in the city that Drew Carey helped make famous. I wanted to check out both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, a Cleveland Indians game on Saturday and explore what is known as Ohio’s wine country.

If the Cavs can’t muster up one win in a NBA Finals – one that is turning out to be pretty disappointing – none of my adventures can be done.

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After five nights in San Antonio it’s now time to head to Cleveland.

Travel is never easy during the NBA Finals, especially after having a late game and an early flight.

So here is the rundown of our adventure to get to Cleveland (All times central):

10:30 p.m. – Final horn blows as the Spurs win 103-92 to take a 2-0 series lead against the Cavaliers.

11:30 p.m. - NBA managing editor Mary Ciecek and I finish the edit about an hour after the game ends. The total tally for the night was 4,457 images ingested from Lisa and Ronald. We ended up sending 134 pictures in just over three hours. Pretty impressive!

12:15 a.m. – After helping the photographers pack all their gear (remotes, cameras, lenses, etc.) and packing our equipment as well we do one last walk-through to make sure we have taken down all the necessary equipment for our trip to Cleveland. Some of the gear we will be taking with us on the plane and some of it will be shipped via FedEx.

12:30 a.m. - We say our goodbyes to our field IT specialist Bob Covington who is heading to Vancouver for a technology walk-through for the 2010 Olympic winter games. He will meet us again in San Antonio if there is a game 6. DJ Maria will be meeting us in Cleveland to take over for Bob and provide on-site IT support.

12:45 a.m. – We exit the AT&T Center and head to our hotel to finish packing and shower. We decided early on that we wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight because of the late finish to the game and our 7:05 a.m. flight to Cleveland

1:30 a.m. – We check out of the Marriott Rivercenter and Lisa, Ronald and myself head over to the house of Ed Ornelas., a photographer for the San Antonio Express News and the longtime best friend of Ronald. Ed came through with recording the series finale of The Sopranos and we can’t wait to see if Tony Soprano can make it through the episode alive. With everyone having their different theories on how the show should end we all can’t wait to see what they came up with.

2:15 a.m. – After starting a couple loads of laundry and eating some pizza we finally get to start the Sopranos.

3:24 a.m. – What the heck was that? We all seem a little stunned or should I say saddened at the series finale of the Sopranos. After watching the show since its inception, I wanted more of a conclusion. However, seeing Phil Leotardo get whacked was a great scene. I’m sad the show is over.

4:15 a.m. – The last load of laundry finishes and we begin repacking our bags back up and start to load up the car.

4:45 a.m. – We thought fitting four people’s luggage into a Ford Explorer would be no problem but after seeing that we had 15 bags between the four of us the car was completely full. Minus Lisa – who was driving – we each had two bags on our laps. Luckily the airport was close.

That’s me crammed in the car with the luggage.

5:15 a.m. – We arrive at the airport and see cars backed up and realized the airport is crowded already and the sun still isn’t even close to coming out. It takes Ronald and I nearly an hour to check our bags and 35 minutes to crawl through security.

6:55 a.m. – We finally make it through the security line with no time to spare and head for the gate. We are practically the last people on the plane but lucked out and both avoided the dreaded middle seats.

6:58 a.m. – As we walk onto the Southwest plane we notice a bag in the front row of the aircraft. It’s the Larry O Brien trophy given to the NBA Champion. The trophy has its own seat in the first row of the plane.

7:05 a.m. – Our plane finally takes off and we are finally able to get a few hours sleep before heading directly to the Quicken Loans Arena to setup remotes and check the wiring on the internet.

Ronald takes advantage of the time in the air and catches a quick nap.

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