Limited edition items from the much-hyped historic matchup of the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals that begin Thursday night are being made available for sale to fans.

Celtics forward Kevin Garnett and adidas have teamed up to produce a limited edition version of Garnett’s 2008-09 adidas Team Signature Commander Shoe. The KG Commander is to launch in October, but the special edition shoes are being made specifically for the Finals.

Only eight pairs per Finals game will be made available for $1,017 each (in honor of the Celtics going for their 17th championship) at celtics.com; the TD Banknorth Garden Pro Shop and at the NBA Store in Manhattan. The shoes feature the Larry O’Brien Trophy on one side and numbers indicating that particular night’s Finals game on the other.

Meanwhile, the NBA will be auctioning the players’ game-worn jerseys from Finals Games 1 and 3 – giving fans a chance to bid on a home and road jersey for each player. The Game 1 auction will be at NBA.com from June 5-24 and the Game 3 auction from June 10-26. The jerseys will be specially authenticated with coding, tags and security numbers.

> Discuss this entry

Rapper and music executive Jay-Z can add another title to his resume: NBA Draft Lottery good-luck charm.

At least that’s what the New Jersey Nets are hoping. Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, a Nets investor, is representing the team onstage at tonight’s NBA Draft Lottery in Secaucus, N.J.

“This is very exciting and I hope my nickname, ‘Lucky Lefty,’ holds up,” Jay-Z said in a statement.

“He’s obviously one of the most recognizable figures in the world. To have him represent us at the lottery, we’re very excited about it,” Nets spokesman Barry Baum said. “We’re all about doing things differently to generate some buzz and excitement.”

Jay-Z’s presence along with guard Dwyane Wade, who will be there on behalf of the Heat, is somewhat new for the NBA. Owners have represented teams in the past, as have current players, but it’s more typical for front-office types — presidents, coaches and general managers — to do the honors.

The Sacramento Kings are sending the winner of their luckiest fan contest.

> Discuss this entry

Promotion for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is everywhere – even Major League Baseball team schedules and at NBA.com.

Indiana Jones is sponsoring the "Dunk of the Night" on NBA.com and the first Indiana Jones movie in 19 years is helping advertise the NBA’s Conference Finals.

Check out your favorite Major League Baseball team’s schedule online and you’ll find Harrison Ford’s photo in the box for May 22 – opening day for the movie. There’s even an online MLB sweepstakes tied to the movie that includes tickets to see your favorite MLB “living legend” and tickets to the film.

MLB stirred up controversy in 2004 when it teamed with Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios to promote Spider-Man 2 at ballparks across the country, including putting spider webs on the bases. The web-covered bases were scrapped after the outcry.

So are you offended by Indiana Jones teaming with your sports and appearing in the MLB schedule?

> Discuss this entry

Dunkin’ Donuts is continuing to push its iced coffee and its partnership with the Heat. Customers who purchase an iced coffee at participating Broward or Miami-Dade stores through May 20 will receive a coupon for a free limited edition 1988 inaugural season Heat draft cap.

You need to attend the Heat’s Draft Lottery party at AmericanAirlines Arena, 6-9 p.m. May 20 – where the team will learn when it will pick in this year’s draft (somewhere between first and fourth) -- to cash in the hat coupon. But you’ll also get gift cards for Dunkin’ Donuts purchases and a chance to attend a meet and greet with the Heat’s 2008 draft pick on June 27.

To kick off the promotion, which begins today, the Heat dancers, Burnie and others will stop by the Dunkin’ Donuts at 3280 Davie Blvd., Fort Lauderdale from 3-5 p.m. today. And Dunkin’ Donuts will host its second annual “Free Iced Coffee Day” from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday. Stop by AmericanAirlines Arena between noon and 4 p.m. on Wednesday for free samples, as well.

> Discuss this entry

OK... it's clearly a joke, but in keeping with its Shaquille O'Neal plays jockey theme, vitaminwater has taken out an ad in this weekend's Daily Racing Form that's an open letter from the former Heat center expressing his interest in running in the Kentucky Derby.

The company debuted an ad duing Super Bowl XLII in which O'Neal, who was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February, plays a jockey. The print ad says O'Neal wants to run in the derby.

It begins "dear friends at the national thoroughbred racing association and trainers, roll up your seersuckers, and put down your mint julep because i have some important news...the big diesel wants in the derby!"

O'Neal signed on with vitaminwater as an endorser and investor last year. The company has even created a web page for horsinaroundwithshaq which includes video and photos of O'Neal having fun at the track.

> Discuss this entry

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the NBA can thank Time Magazine for paying tribute to its playoff ads that are part of the league's "Where Amazing Happens" campaign.

The magazine's latest issue shows a split image of Democratic presidential candidates U.S. Sens. Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton and the headline "There Can Only Be One." The NBA ads feature split images of LeBron James and Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan and the same tagline: "There Can Only Be One."

Time contacted the NBA before using its image and credited the league's 2008 playoff ad campaign on its content page with inspiring the cover photo illustration.

> Discuss this entry

At least someone at the Heat is having success.

With his team in the cellar, it probably wasn’t the kind of success he was hoping for. But Heat coach Pat Riley agreed to let the Heat dancers borrow his trademarked term “three-peat” in their quest to win the title of best NBA dance team for the third consecutive year.

The Heat dance team is pitted against the Los Angeles Clippers Spirit Dance Team in the finals of the league’s Dance Team Competition. Fans can vote until noon today here or at heat.com.

The dance team bracket competition was launched in 2006 as the NBA’s answer to March Madness. Each team’s dancers “compete” online for votes with bios, photos and videos. This year’s competition has drawn more than 7 million page views — up from last year’s 2.6 million.

Heat dancers have been wearing “Three-peat” T-shirts for appearances, and e-mail blasts reminding fans to vote for the team include the term, which Riley trade-marked in 1988 when his L.A. Lakers were attempting to win their third straight NBA title. But the Detroit Pistons swept the Lakers in the 1989 Finals.

“It was probably not the context he had hoped,” Heat Executive Vice President Michael McCullough said.

> Discuss this entry

To celebrate the first decade of the NBA Store, the NBA has released a list of the store’s Top 10 most popular jerseys. Heat guard Dwyane Wade’s jersey ranks seventh – not bad for a guy who’s only in his fifth year in the league. Michael Jordan ranks No. 1, natch. See the full list below.

And speaking of jerseys, NBA Commissioner David Stern didn’t rule out the possibility of NBA players wearing sponsor logos on their uniforms during exhibition games in Europe this fall that will feature the Heat, New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets and Washington Wizards. The Heat will play the Nets in Paris and London.

“We're mindful of the fact that baseball just did it,” Stern said in a media conference call last week. “Our history has been we've tended to do things that have honored the local venue where we're playing with sort of modifications in uniforms, but we're mindful that in Europe sponsorship on uniforms is more common than it is here, and it's something we would consider but we're not planning.”

The Boston Red Sox and Oakland A’s, who opened the 2008 MLB season with two games in Japan last week, wore sponsor logos on their jerseys and helmets. According to Joyce Julius & Associates, a Michigan firm that measures the impact of corporate sponsorship, the jersey logos – EMC on Red Sox sleeves; Pepsi on the A’s -- generated $851,000 in media exposure during the two game and two replay broadcasts.

The company figured the logos got more than 28 minutes of broadcast time and multiplied that against the estimated cost of commercial time during the broadcasts. Ricoh, the sponsor of the games, got exposure on both teams' batting helmets, worth a total of $498,000 from more than 16 minutes of screen time during the four broadcasts, the company said.

Here’s the NBA’s list of most popular jerseys sold at the NBA store, 1998-2008:

1. Michael Jordan
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Allen Iverson
4. LeBron James
5. Shaquille O'Neal
6. Tracy McGrady
7. Dwyane Wade
8. Jason Kidd
9. Vince Carter
10. Tim Duncan

> Discuss this entry

If you’ve been reading my stories or followed this blog, you already know that super high energy Panthers President Michael Yormark has an identical twin brother Brett, who happens to be CEO of the New Jersey Nets.

The two are so much alike they finish each other’s sentences and take credit for each other’s creative marketing ideas. In this item from December in an unusual moment, Michael actually gave Brett credit for coming up with a mini-mascot.

But it’s difficult to capture in print how fast paced the brothers are. CNBC Sports Business Reporter Darren Rovell says he’s done that in Friday’s installment of CNBC's “High Net Worth.”

“The truth is their lives have been one big competition and so we’ve told it that way,” Rovell told me. “The piece is basically one big competition from who sold the most creative sponsorship to who wakes up earlier to who works out harder to who’s the best dresser.”

In a story I wrote about them in 2006, Michael insisted he was in the office by 4 a.m.; Brett by 5:15 a.m. This is also from that story:

The pair share business strategies, and occasionally take credit for the other's idea. For example, did "Pancakes with the Panthers" come before "Pancakes and Hoops," which both involved inviting lapsed season-ticket holders to breakfast with players and team executives to encourage them to renew?

Brett, who says he's three minutes older than Michael, launched a series of "Influencer Parties," in which Nets season-ticket holders host potential ticket buyers at catered cocktail parties at their homes. Next month, the Panthers will begin "Hockey House Calls," in which season-ticket holders will host block party-style gatherings for friends, family and neighbors who might be interested in Panthers tickets.

What Rovell says his piece is able to capture is their energy. “We try to open them both up and show people these guys are impossible to walk with, the speed, the pace of their walk. I mean you need a trainer to keep up with them,” Rovell says with a chuckle. “They tell us that one day they might foresee at the end of their careers, opening up a consulting firm together. You kind of wonder what client would attend a 6 a.m. meeting.”

The show airs tonight at 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.

> Discuss this entry

The NBA All-Star Game is just as much about showcasing business as it is about the game’s top players. Last year, Heat guard Dwyane Wade was the toast of Las Vegas with his new T-Mobile sidekick, Converse shoes, Topps collectible card with a gambling chip and brand summit with his business partners.

Tonight during the NBA All-Star Rookie Game in New Orleans, Gatorade will debut a new ad featuring Wade for its low-calorie G2 drink. The 30-second ad is in keeping with the theme of the one featuring New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter that ran during Super Bowl XLII and showed grass growing under Jeter’s feet even as he walked city streets. The Wade ad will show the pavement under Wade's feet turning into the boards of a basketball court.

Watch a behind the scenes video for the ad:

> Discuss this entry

Chew on this: Pepperidge Farm’s Goldfish brand is teaming up with the NBA to promote youth fitness and healthful eating through the league’s Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA and NBA FIT program. Heat guard Dwyane Wade and Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh are serving as the program’s ambassadors.

The partnership rolls out this week in New Orleans at NBA All-Star 2008 with clinics and activities on Friday and Saturday. Pepperidge Farm is also making a donation to the Wade’s World Foundation, which supports programs that promote education, health and social skills for at-risk kids.

Wade will appear in advertising and marketing programs and on a special NBA-themed Goldfish crackers package.

“I’m honored to work with the Goldfish brand in my quest to leave the world a better place than I found it,” Wade said in a statement. “Their long-standing commitment to American youth is inspirational and our mutual interest in helping kids has created a meaningful partnership that will benefit countless children.”

> Discuss this entry

Shaquille O’Neal’s Phoenix Suns jersey is already available for sale online at NBAStore.com and at the US Airways Center in Phoenix. The NBA Store in Manhattan will have them in stock on Friday.

O’Neal’s jersey ranked No. 12 in popularity among NBA players at the end of the 2006-07 season, according to the league. It was No. 1 at the end of the 2004-05 season – his first with the Heat.

> Discuss this entry

Following a trend in the sports industry, the Heat will test a limited number of “all-you-can-eat” seats at three games this month.

The seats, which cost $45 piece, are on the 400 level at AmericanAirlines Arena and come with a chance to pick up four items from a very narrow list of options – regular hot dog, regular nachos and cheese, small popcorn, peanuts, small soft drink and bottled water - on an unlimited number of trips to the concession stand. Fans are required to buy at least two tickets to qualify for the promotion.

Fans with season tickets in the designated area can get the food for an extra $10 per seat per game. The games are Dec. 13 versus the Washington Wizards, Dec. 17 versus the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dec. 20 against the New Jersey Nets.

The Heat is trying out the promotion earlier than anticipated. Team officials told me earlier this fall they were developing a food included ticket option for the 2008-09 season.

The Los Angeles Dodgers helped spawn the growth of tickets with food when they designated 3,000 bleacher seats as the All-You-Can-Eat Right Field Pavilion last season. The food included Dodger dogs, peanuts, popcorn and soft drinks and ran $20 for group tickets to $40. They sold 70 percent of capacity for the season and a half dozen other MLB teams have since added all-you-can-eat sections.

Meanwhile, the Panthers and Dolphins have created higher-end seating options that come with upscale food. The ADT Club at BankAtlantic Center offers fans who spend $7,500 to $9,000 a year, depending on the length of the contract, to get a seat and fancy food for every hockey game and every concert in the building for a minimum of 75 events. The idea is to create the exclusiviity of a suite, but at a more affordable price. A hockey-only option on the 400 level with sports bar style food averages $2,000 a season.

The Dolphins offer a couple of higher-end options with food, including 10-person suites in the east endzone of Dolphin Stadium that include food in a common area shared by three others suites, and run $80,000 a season.

> Discuss this entry