I had an All-Star weekend post all ready to go and then my blackberry reset, and I lost the post. Unfortunately I don't remember anything I said, but I will do my best to replicate . . .
I was thoroughly impressed with the All-Star weekend's events, both on-court and off (from what we know so far). The slam dunk contest was fantastic, the game itself started out like a show boating outing as usual, but then it got intense as the game progress. I guess that's usually what happens because at the end of the day, these guys are in this game because they hate losing. The East pulled it out, and while I know LeBron James had a pretty good game, and I have to admit a few really nasty moves, I thought Ray Allen really came through in the clutch for them - which is what MVP means to me. Who won the game for you? Now most fans don't put too much stock in the all-star accolades, but the league keeps track of that stuff. Every January in the weeks leading up to All-Star weekend we are inundated with all-star history facts, and a lot of times money incentives are tied into that in their contracts for winning these events.
The slam dunk contest was highly entertaining. I have to say I was impressed mostly because a little creativity combined with high-flying feats (a tad gimmicky in my book) breathed some life back into what has been a fairly dull affair for a number of years. I went to the slam dunk contest last year and I can honestly say I forgot that Gerald Green won and I couldn't tell you what one single dunk looked like. It certainly helps matters that this year's contest featured an on the rise, semi-marquee player in Dwight Howard, and a returning dunk champion with some serious hops. Although some of their dunks were quite gimmicky, they did some pretty high degree of difficulty stunts. Never underestimate the ability of likable personalities to reel in the dough.
Green's cupcake dunk could only be truly appreciated in the replays. I watched it in a restaurant and I had to laugh at the collective "ooooooh!" I heard when they replayed Green blowing out the candle on the cupcake. I saw flashbacks of Dave Chappelle's "And 1 mixtape" skit. Dwight Howard said he thought he was going to take a bite out of the cupcake, and then the contest would have been over for Howard if Green had done that. Now that would have been funny.
Green's shoeless dunk seems like something whose full effect could only be appreciated by those who have dunked before, which is why he received such high scores for what seemed mediocre, and perhaps why the fans voted for Howard to win. Springing off of one's feet alone with no support is no joke, but the dunk itself was rather mediocre. The marketer in me couldn't help but think that some shoe exec somewhere whose shoe was left on the scorer's table was pissed when the shoes came off. The shoes, the shoes, it's gotta be the shoes. I guess that's not true.
But Howard's dunks were just sick and wrong. Sick. The first one, off the backboard, I'm proud to say I had a similar dunk (for which he did not win in a previous all-star contest) posted on this very blog just a few weeks ago. That dunk he did first pretty much ended the contest. The angles he had to hit to do that - incredible. The other dunks, including the tap with one hand dunk, with the other, the Superman - just very athletic dunks. When he put the small basket up I thought for sure he was going to dunk a Nerf ball and a basketball. While the resulting dunk was just OK to me, I was glad that he didn't go with the total gimmick. I probably would have ended with Superman or that back of the glass dunk. Sick. He's supposed to be too tall for this stuff.
I missed the three point, the skills contest, and that 3-on-3 competition they have with an NBA, WNBA, and retired player, but the dunk contest is always the premier event of the night, and it did not disappoint. Last year's skills contest was pretty entertaining since it featured big names - I think I recall Kobe and LeBron competing but I don't recall who won.
AND last but not least, there were no crazy stories coming out of New Orleans. That's mildly surprising, but also great news. After last year's debacle in Las Vegas, the NBA really needed to bring it down a notch, but no one was expecting New Orleans to be an improvement. I will wait a few days to see if someone like Jason Whitlock has something to say about what went on behind the scenes, but I'm confident that if the story hasn't gotten out yet, it just might not.
This definitely helps the NBA's image to put on a successful, entertaining weekend of events. Maybe I'll go back again one day . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment