From the people who brought you David Blaine…

“I Love This Game” is getting the boot after a brief resurrection. The NBA is “putting the finishing touches” on a new advertising campaign called “Where Amazing Happens”. The campaign will debut with the start of next season, and is the second campaign this year by the Goodby, Silverstein & Partners agency — the same agency that created the David Blaine “Unbelievable” ads from the 2007 NBA Playoffs.

According to one executive familiar with the theme, the conceptual presentation included a series of slides, one featuring Kobe Bryant and LeBron James dunking with the tag line ?Where space walking happens.? Another slide depicted the dramatic photo of Michael Jordan sobbing as he holds the NBA championship trophy with the tag line ?Where grown men crying happens.?

Eventually, the slides concluded with the tag line ?Where Amazing Happens.?

Will “Where Amazing Happens” be effective in minimizing any fallout from the Donaghy scandal? Likely not. But, if the reactions by team executives towards the campaign are any indication, at the very least the new marketing slogan will be better than previous efforts by other sports — as long as Blaine and Dane Cook are nowhere to be found.