Last month, Translation launched a campaign promoting the NBA Playoffs with a spot featuring none other than NBA legend (and Kazaam star) Shaquille O’Neal.
To promote the start of the NBA Finals on June 1, the agency turned to a different legend: Julius Erving, perhaps better known as Dr. J.
Erving talks about how “all that elegance, all that style” (and Dr. J. would know a thing or two about style) doesn’t really matter on “the ultimate stage” if you fail to take home a ring, while putting on a shirt and tie. His take on the Finals is interspersed with footage of legends such as Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, as well as Dr. J himself, of course.
The spot concludes by tying Erving’s message that “When it’s all over, you either have a ring or you don’t” to the “This Is Why We Play” tagline Translation introduced for the start of the 2015 NBA season. Dr. J delivers the line while slipping on his own ring, which he won with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1983.