On his blog today Forward Thinking, former PC Mag Editor-in-Chief Michael Miller discusses his recent trip to Madison Square Garden where, thanks to Lenovo, he had the chance to check out some of the behind-the-scenes tech at NBA games.

Steven Hellmuth, the NBA's Executive VP for operations and technology, was on hand to discuss the technologies that helps officials gather stats. Says Michael:

Referee whistles activate devices that turn on and off the play clock, while a set of four statisticians record what is happening on the court. One calls the action, while another uses the touch screen on a Thinkpad X60 tablet to record what happened: for instance, touching a button that says "made shot", another for the player, and then touching a location on a map of the floor to show where the shot was taken. Another pair works simultaneously, so they can check results, while a DVR allows the statisticians to double check the video of a play. And the statisticians are in touch with an official scorer on the other side of the court.

It's an interesting behind-the-scenes look at things that you don't really think about while the action is on the court--which, of course, means that it's doing its job.