The 2010-11 NBA Dunk Contest marked the return of a once great event. For years the Dunk Contest has been becoming more and more of a laughing stock, not worth watching. Uninspired, rarely original dunks scarred the contest, but the youth of the NBA have brought the contest back. Blake Griffin, DeMar DeRozan, Serge Ibaka and Javale McGee put on a tremendous show last night.
As good as the contest was, it was not without controversy. Blake Griffin may have been given a generous home court scoring in the first round, but he did not disappoint in the final round. Let’s take a look at the dunks:
First Round:
Javale McGee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcw2u9nr3CE
Scored: 50
Thoughts: It took McGee awhile to land this, but dunking two balls on two different rims at the same time is impressive and original.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9HNTUrJbNM
Scored: 49
Thoughts: Should have been a perfect round for McGee, what better way to follow up a two ball dunk than with a three ball dunk. Great athleticism and awareness to be able to pull this off.
Blake Griffin:
Scored: 49
Thoughts: This was an impressive dunk, powerful slam with the added difficulty of having the ball behind his head.
Scored: 46
Thoughts: Originally he was trying to take the pass of the backboard with a 360, that would have been more impressive, but after several misses he settled for an “easier” dunk.
DeMar DeRozan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNwUeUXDOyc
Scored: 44
Thoughts: I feel that he was scored lower than he deserved because it took him awhile to complete the dunk. Maybe next year he will have a point guard do the passing and not a forward. This was the most controversial dunk to me because Blake Griffin’s second dunk was similar to this except instead of through the legs, Griffin did a windmill. Through the legs, in my opinion, is the harder dunk and he DeRozan should have had the better score. Ironcially, DeRozan missed the finals by one point to Griffin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30XTaarkuu0
Scored: 50
Thoughts: Highly difficult dunk, deserved the perfect score.
Serge Ibaka
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLs1HdQKMc
Scored: 45
Thoughts: This was a true free-throw line dunk and it might have been the longest dunk in NBA history, but his score was lower than expected mainly because of the barely there dunk. Had he thrown it down harder, he would have had a better score.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8onGfer-eXc
Scored: 45
Thoughts: Ibaka was certainly original with this dunk, grabbing a teddy bear with his mouth, but other than that it wasn’t overly impressive.
Overall the first round was fun to watch. It was nice to see original dunks that are worthy of talking about for years to come. I feel Griffin did benefit from the hype-man skills of Kenny Smith and the home crowd, but he would not disappoint in the finals.
Final Round: *Note*Final Round dunks are not scored by the judges.
Blake Griffin
Thoughts: Griffin brought it in the final round. This dunk was one of the most impressive dunks of the night. He remixed the Vince Carter elbow in rim dunk, by throwing the ball off the backboard first and then pulling himself up (with just his elbow) after the dunk. This would have been a 50.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FKXa7CpNMs
Thoughts: Griffin received a lob pass while jumping over the hood of a car with a choir singing in the background. Enough said. This would have been a 50.
Javale McGee
Thoughts: Wow. This was a hard dunk to pull off and a tremendous answer to Griffin’s elbow dunk. This would have been a 50 as well.
Thoughts: I know following up a guy who just dunked over a car was a tough task, but this was a pathetic attempt by the guy would had the best portfolio of dunks on the night to this point. This was uninspired and not creative. This would have been a 40-42 dunk.
Overall, I was impressed with the dunk contest for the first time in a long time. Tremendous creativity and athleticism was displayed by all the athletes and it is going to be hard to one-up next year.
[Photo Credit: SneakerNews.com]
