Last October, I was notified by the NBA that I had won 2 tickets to an NBA game as part of a prize for last year's NBA Stock Exchange game. I was surprised, because I thought I finished second in a winner-take-all league, but when they offered me the prize, I didn't turn it down. They asked me to provide a list of three alternative game dates for either the Celtics or Knicks. I picked three Celtics games - one vs. the Lakers, one vs. the Cavs, and one vs. Miami.

In January, they notified me that I would be getting tickets for the March 6 game vs. Cleveland. But then, on the evening of Feb 4, I received two e-tickets to the Feb 5 Lakers-Celtics game. I'm not sure why the late switch, but fortunately, I was available to go, as was my son Jason (aka Jaydog), who lives in the Boston area. Earlier in the day, we determined that the seats were on the baseline, in the second row of folding chairs. With seats that close to the floor, we decided to arrive when the doors opened to watch some of the pregame shootaround.

Here I am arriving at our seats.

We were at the end with the Lakers' basket for the first half, and the guys who were currently "shooting around" were Gasol, Odom, Chris Mihm, DJ Mbenga, and Sun Yue, along with coaches Brian Shaw, Jim Cleamons, and Kurt Rambis. (It took me awhile to recognize Rambis, since he was not wearing glasses.) The dominant impression was height. Gasol, who was situated closest to us, really seemed tall, but Mbenga is also a giant, and Mihm and Odom are not short. Even Sun Yue is listed at 6-9, which seemed about right. I tried taking a bunch of photos, but almost all turned out blurry, and it was clear that our photo ops needed to focus on more stationary situations, like Gasol at the foul line.

That's Rambis in the white shirt on the far left. I think the guy in the black outfit was just a ball retriever.

It didn't take long before the shootaround got pretty repetitive, and it was more interesting to see some of the other recognizable personalities. For example, here is Steven A. Smith yakking with JoJo White.

Although at this particular moment, Smith's mouth is shut and White is talking, that was not their normal roles. Note also Tom Heinsohn in the far right background.

Our seats were a lousy vantage point for watching the starting lineup introductions. People (including players) were all over the place, blocking most of the view. No big deal. We could look overhead at the jumbotron to see what was happening on the court.

Once the game began, though, the view improved - once the Lakers finally scored. Evidently, the Laker bench players all remain standing until the first Laker points are scored, and some of the players wrapped around the corner of the baseline, pretty much killing our view of anything at the far end of the court. The Celtics scored the first several baskets, but finally the Lakers got on the board and all of the players immediately sat down, and the view was much better.

Odom drew two quick fouls, and found himself on the bench. He was not amused - at first. However, once he cooled off - literally and figuratively - he was having some fun razzing one of the fans in the row in front of us. I could really make out what he was saying - and I suspect he may have known the guy he was bantering with - but he was clearly having some fun, (It may have been one of the TNT guys he was yapping with - either a cameraman, or maybe the guy that keeps the wire out of the way.

This was evidently an early up-fake by Kobe. Most of the action moved too fast for photography, but this one turned out kind of cool. Notice the "ball vapor" that rises up and over his forehead.

Here is Luke Walton preparing to inbound the ball.

The guys leaning over in teh left foreground with the grey shirt was a TNT cameraman.

Kobe took a breather late in the first period. Here he is, zipping up (so to speak).

Here is a typical view looking up the Laker bench. Question - why is Phil Jackson's head so much higher than anyone else's? Does he have a booster seat?

Whenever Kobe was out, he usually sat at our end of the bench. Ditto for Odom. I guess they liked to stay away from the coach.

This must have happened during the second half, since Pierce is at the line. Obviously, the Celtics were shooting at our end for the second half.