The NBA Strikes Gold with a Mini Movie Series

In recent years, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has done a remarkable job producing a series of mini movies that truly magnify the league's biggest games and events of the season. Each of the mini movies provide fans with an all-access look that creates an elevated sense of excitement, drama, and star power.

The NBA's mini movies have been very well received in the online community. The league's NBA Finals Game 1 mini movie attracted 215K+ views in just two (2) days and the 2011 NBA All-Star Game mini movie attracted nearly 750K impresssions.

It would be great to see more leagues and major events replicate the NBA's mini movie concept - notably the NCAA. There is so much drama and excitement surrounding March Madness and the BCS Bowl Games that it would be great to see more of the behind-the-scenes happenings first hand.

Check out a breakdown of some of the NBA's mini movies below:

2011 NBA FINALS MINI MOVIES

2011 NBA ALL-STAR GAME MINI MOVIES

"Must-See" Site of the Day: KnicksNow.com

A few days ago, the New York Knicks officially launched an innovative social media oriented site that has become a hot topic of conversation in the digital sports space. The site, KnicksNow.com, is a team-operated community that provides real-time social media insights and nuggets of information in a concise, digestible format.

KnicksNow.com offers a tremendous amount of high-quality content in a simple format - two aspects of digital media that fans are looking for. The site features a plethora of videos, high-res images, post-game interviews, blog posts, relevant tweets, live Facebook integration, content sharing features, headlines, quotes, daily photo uploads, and caption contests. Fans can feature @thenyknicks in their Tweets throughout Knicks games for the chance to be featured on KnicksNow.com.

Per Howard Jacobs, EVP of Marketing and Sales for MSG Sports, "KnicksNow.com is the next digital step in our total fan engagement strategy. It's the ultimate destination for our most passionate and loyal fans to access exclusive, behind-the-scenes content on the team and fully engage with other Knicks fans and our players in the dynamic, ever-changing conversation that's taking place across the social media landscape."

The interactive site could soon become a benchmark for organizations across all sports looking to host their social media initiatives all in one hub. Check out some screen shots of the site below: