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What: “Greatest NBA Finals Moments” videotape, $14.95.

As the 20th century draws to a close, you may be tired of nostalgia. But this tape, available at stores June 8, about great NBA championship series moments is, well, great. With plenty of material, the producers found a way to cram a lot into one hour. Not everything, but the in-depth stories are good ones.

As a bonus at the end of the tape, from the 1997 All-Star game, is the introduction of the NBA’s 50 greatest players.

It begins with a brief look at Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics’ 1957 title, the first of Russell’s 11 in 13 seasons. It looks at Russell’s last title, when the Celtics upset the Lakers in 1969 by winning Game 7 at the Forum.

Boston guard Sam Jones, in a current interview, talks about how Laker owner Jack Kent Cooke inspired the Celtics. “He put a sheet in all the seats spelling out what was going to take place after the Lakers won, that the USC band was going to play ‘Happy Days Are Here Again,’ that balloons would come down from the ceiling and that Chick Hearn would interview Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.”

Jones says he showed the sheet to Russell, who read it to the team before the game. The inspired Celtics made it a close game and Don Nelson’s improbable shot that hit the rim and went straight up in the air and back down through the net gave the Celtics the win and the title.

Russell, in a current interview, says, “We knew it was going to be fun seeing them get all those balloons out of there one at a time.”

The next in-depth story deals with the greatest NBA finals game--the Celtics’ triple-overtime, Game 5 victory over the Phoenix Suns in 1976. The game appeared over after the second overtime, but Phoenix’s Paul Westphal complained there was still a second left. The players were called back from the locker rooms and the Suns’ Gar Heard made an amazing shot that forced the third overtime. But the Celtics won the game, and eventually the series.

Another story is about rookie Magic Johnson, playing center in place of an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, scoring 42 points to lead the Lakers to a victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 6 of the 1980 championship series. The Lakers would win four more championships in the ‘80s.

“To this day, I say it was my greatest game,” Johnson said.

Of course, Larry Bird gets plenty of air time, and so does Isiah Thomas. Since NBA Entertainment plans to release a Michael Jordan tape June 8, his sixth and final NBA championship gets only brief treatment, but his heroics in last year’s finals are included at the end.

There is also Willie Reed’s inspirational performance despite a leg injury against the Lakers in Game 7 of the 1970 series, won by the New York Knicks. And Thomas scoring 25 points in one quarter against the Lakers in 1988 is featured. Thomas’ Detroit Pistons lost that series, but his performance was a great moment, and that’s what this tape is all about.