Blake Griffin soars over the hood of a car during the NBA Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star Saturday Night. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
JaVale McGee was robbed! Not to take anything away from Blake Griffin, who had his moments during All-Star Saturday Night, but McGee’s dunks were far more difficult than what Griffin did for the whole event. I’ll even go a step further and argue that Serge Ibaka and DeMar DeRozan had more impressive dunks than Griffin.
I know Griffin was already anointed the dunk champion even before the competition began with all the hype that surrounded him prior to All-Star Weekend, and some of the hype was deserved, but Griffin’s performance didn’t exactly put him into the top 10 of all-time dunks in my humble opinion.
However, McGee’s trick of dunking on two baskets may have cracked my top 10. It’s not Vince Carter good, but it certainly deserves a lot more credit. I mean, the man dunked on two baskets standing side by side. I bet Blake Griffin can’t do that. McGee’s degree of difficulty was far more superior than Griffin’s or anyone else in the competition.
And McGee admitted that Ibaka stole one of his dunks during the early round, which threw off his game plan (that probably explains the poor effort in his final attempt). If the dunk McGee was referring to was anything close to what he was practicing, it would have been nice. Watch the video:
Griffin’s car dunk received the most attention because it was cool, and Kenny Smith certainly persuaded the judges with his Al Sharpton moment when he brought out the choir and riled up the crowd.
Jumping over a car is good, but not great. It’s been done before. Check out YouTube and you’ll know what I mean. I bet McGee, DeRozan and Ibaka could have cleared the hood of the car as well. And besides, Griffin jumped over the hood of the car, which is not the same as jumping over the top of the car, and he didn’t exactly finish with a lot of power and flair.
DeRozan did a dunk he called “the showstopper” was more impressive than Griffin’s car dunk in which he caught a ball with one hand, ducked under the rim and slammed it on the other side in one motion. Ibaka’s behind-the-free-throw-line dunk was more impressive than Griffin’s car dunk, and even Ibaka’s teddy-bear-stuck-in-the-rim-dunk had more flair and creativity.
The dunk contest was lively and entertaining, which is what it should be. More props, more drama. However, I think the judges and the people who were voting on TV and texting were somewhat persuaded by the power of the Blake Griffin hype machine and didn’t give enough credit to the awesome creative dunks by McGee, Ibaka and DeRozan.
If I had to pick a winner, it would have been JaVale McGee. One more look at McGee’s spectacular dunk.
Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter at: Twitter.com/onemanfastbreak.
The headline says it all!!! I was so excited for this year’s All-Star weekend; I bought a bigger TV, had DISH Network (also my employer) come out and upgrade my receiver to a 722 HD DVR, and invited a few friends over. Well the celebrity game was terrible, (as expected) the 3 point was alright, the game itself was ok, (again as expected) but the slam dunk for the first two rounds was great! Innovative, someone finally nailed the free throw dunk after all these years, and some great young talent was discovered. Then there was Blake’s car & choir dunk. Are you kidding me?!?! It was Griffins 3rd best dunk at best. If you are going to give the hometown boy the trophy, (all the winners were from California teams) let me know ahead of time so I don’t waste hours of my life on a predetermined outcome.