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Tuesday night in Miami was full of high energy for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Heat and the Celtics.
The celebrities surrounding the court added electricity to this pivotal game.
Basketball is unique as it is the one sport where the celebrities would rather be in seats "on the wood" surrounding the court than in a skybox.
At football games, unless a celebrity is shown on the jumbotron, nobody would even know they were there. Unless you are playing in the game, you can't sit on the 50-yard-line next to Bill Belichick. But in basketball everybody in the arena can see the stars during the entire game -- because they are literally on the court.
The Los Angeles Lakers started the courtside trend with Jack Nicholson and other Hollywood celebrities, and of course, there is always star power in New York at Madison Square Garden with its most famous fan, Spike Lee.
I will never forget a game in Brooklyn between the Nets and the LeBron James-led Cavaliers when Prince William and Princess Kate sat on one side of the court, and Jay-Z and Beyonce sat on the opposite side of the court.
During one of the timeouts, Jay -Z and Beyonce walked across the court to say hi to Kate and William, and then King James joined in the royal meeting, with the awestruck fans and players watching (yes, I took a picture).
Lee has said he buys his seats, but I would assume most seats are given to the celebs by the team.
Courtside at the Miami games is always fascinating because many sports and entertainment celebrities live or vacation in South Florida.
Some people are just famous for sitting courtside. Radmila Lolly is a fashion designer and opera singer, and she sits a few seats away from the visiting team bench, posing at almost every game in custom designed ball gowns made from Heat jerseys (on Tuesday night she debuted a hot pink number from the Heat's Miami Vice jerseys).
Sitting a few was seats away from the Boston bench was the No. 1 NBA fan, Jimmy Goldstein, an 83-year-old billionaire who wears colorful rhinestone outfits and has attended NBA playoff games for decades -- and always in the first row.
Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel has shown more enthusiasm for the Heat than most college football coaches have for their school's basketball team. He has been at every playoff game and leads the "Let's Go Heat" chant on the Jumbotron at least once a game.
Golfer Brooks Koepka, fresh off winning his fifth major at the PGA, was sitting across from the Heat bench with his wife, Jenna Sims, holding a Heat jersey with "Koepka" on the back that the team gave him before the game.
Miami native Alex Rodriguez (now the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves) sat underneath the basket with the Wolves' star player, Anthony Edwards.
Sitting a few seats away from the Celtic bench was Yankee captain Derek Jeter with his wife, Hannah.
Many Heat fans pointed out that two Yankee greats at the game was a bad-luck sign for a Miami team that held a 3-0 series lead (out of 150 times, no NBA team has blown a 3-0 series lead).
Jeter and ARod were the leaders of the 2004 New York team that blew a 3-0 series lead to the Red Sox (the only time in MLB history). The arena was full of heat, but there remains a cold chill between the two. It was at a Heat game in 2001 where ARod gave an interview to an Esquire reporter, in which he criticized Jeter, that led to the breakup of the one-time best friends.
TNT was broadcasting live from the game with Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal, and I was impressed that Charles and Shaq endlessly posed for pictures and signed autographs for hundreds of kids.
Game 6 of the Boston-Miami series is tonight in Miami. I don't know who will win, but I guarantee the atmosphere in the arena and courtside will be electric.
Ira Kaufman, an Altoona native and traveling sports fan, hosts IRA on Sports on trueoldiesfla.com on Monday night from 7-8 p.m. It is also available on Soundcloud & iTUNES, search Ira On Sports. His column appears occasionally in Voice of the Fan.