2007 NBA All-Star Festivities

[abomb]

Rookie game is tonight at 7PM Arizona time.

Saturday at 5PM is a Best Dunks special, then NBA Saturday night at 6PM.

 

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Regarding the Dunk Contest;

"Via Marc Stein's blog at ESPN Insider: Dwight Howard wanted to raise the rim to 12 feet(!), but the NBA nixed it." - DanShanoff.com via JD @ Fanhouse

 

[D-Dogg]

Why would they nix it? If he wanted it raised for a dunk he was going to do only, I see no reason not to.

 

[D-Dogg]

Nate Robinson has said if you liked what he did last year, it all pales in comparison to the stuff he has worked on for this contest.

 

[abomb]

Why would they nix it? If he wanted it raised for a dunk he was going to do only, I see no reason not to.

Via TrueHoop.com;

Orlando sources report that Howard has been practicing a couple wicked maneuvers that might inject this dying competition with the ingenuity/originality it desperately needs. One is a 360 throwdown with the rim hiked to 12 feet, two feet higher than regulation. The other sets the rim at 11 1/2 feet and has Howard purportedly going between his legs with the ball in mid-air before flushing.

Yet you apparently won't get to see either trick. League officials considered Howard's request, sources said, but decided that changing the height of the rim -- easily done mid-contest with the help of hydraulics -- would be a departure from the basic rules of the game too radical for them to stomach.

 

[D-Dogg]

Via TrueHoop.com;

Orlando sources report that Howard has been practicing a couple wicked maneuvers that might inject this dying competition with the ingenuity/originality it desperately needs. One is a 360 throwdown with the rim hiked to 12 feet, two feet higher than regulation. The other sets the rim at 11 1/2 feet and has Howard purportedly going between his legs with the ball in mid-air before flushing.

Yet you apparently won't get to see either trick. League officials considered Howard's request, sources said, but decided that changing the height of the rim -- easily done mid-contest with the help of hydraulics -- would be a departure from the basic rules of the game too radical for them to stomach.

Holy hell.

 

[msdundee]

Nate Robinson has said if you liked what he did last year, it all pales in comparison to the stuff he has worked on for this contest.

Does that mean he'll take twice as many tries to make one? It'll be a long night.

But I think I read somewhere they put a limit on the # of attempts.

 

[abomb]

But I think I read somewhere they put a limit on the # of attempts.

They did. Thankfully.

 

[D-Dogg]

Does that mean he'll take twice as many tries to make one? It'll be a long night.

But I think I read somewhere they put a limit on the # of attempts.

That was his last dunk, which wasn't even close to two of his others.

 

[msdundee]

That was his last dunk, which wasn't even close to two of his others.

He can do it, no doubt about that, and I'd like to see him win again. Unfortunately it's easier to remember those 14-15 tries or whatever it was last year that put everyone to sleep. Any guy his size who dunks over Amare and blocks Yao can fly.

 

[D-Dogg]

I agree...multiple tries was stupid.

But him jumping over spud webb was awesome.

 

[abomb]

But him jumping over spud webb was awesome.

I agree. I was rewatching the last ten years of dunk contests in these little 3-5 minute clips on nba.com.

AI's dunk off the backboard was very cool, but Nate over Webb was +1.

After watching all that stuff, I think my favorite dunk ever is still Vince Carter's dunk and elbow in the rim in the 2000 contest.

 

[abomb]

From www.thebrushback.com;

"NBA Adds Most Ghastly Tattoo Contest To All Star Game Festivities


LAS VEGAS--The NBA announced today that it has added a new event to the All-Star game in the tradition of the popular Skills Challenge, Slam Dunk Contest, and Three Point Contest. The event, the Most Ghastly Tattoo Contest, will pit a dozen players against each other to determine who has the most nightmarish body art.
“It’s a really creative and interesting way to judge which player exercised the worst judgment,” said Commissioner David Stern, who came up with the idea. “Have you seen some of the tats on these guys? I’m talking about ish crawling up their necks, full sized portraits of deceased loved ones, entire Bible verses, swear words – the whole nine yards. It’s about time somebody determined which of these is the most ghastly. Keep the kids away from the TV, though. You don’t want them to realize there are people in the world with such poopy taste.” Allen Iverson, Mike Bibby, Doug Christie, Kenyon Martin, and Stephon Marbury have already signed up for the contest, while Dennis Rodman has been secured as a guest judge. "

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Via TrueHoop.com;

Orlando sources report that Howard has been practicing a couple wicked maneuvers that might inject this dying competition with the ingenuity/originality it desperately needs. One is a 360 throwdown with the rim hiked to 12 feet, two feet higher than regulation. The other sets the rim at 11 1/2 feet and has Howard purportedly going between his legs with the ball in mid-air before flushing.

Yet you apparently won't get to see either trick. League officials considered Howard's request, sources said, but decided that changing the height of the rim -- easily done mid-contest with the help of hydraulics -- would be a departure from the basic rules of the game too radical for them to stomach.

i love it. "a departure from the basic rules of the game." i love those fast breaks in the nba where the forward stops, put on a blindfold, receives a pass and then flushes it! those are great and always so spontaneous. i am also a big fan of the set play where a player kicks the ball to the dunker or runs up without dribbling it before dunking! the best though, are all the self-passes in mid-game. that's just so fundamental! feech. idiots.

 

[Espo]

Man I would have loved to see Howard dunk on a 12 foot hoop. That guys is crazy and it should be fun.

 

[TucsonDevil]

From www.thebrushback.com;

"NBA Adds Most Ghastly Tattoo Contest To All Star Game Festivities


LAS VEGAS--The NBA announced today that it has added a new event to the All-Star game in the tradition of the popular Skills Challenge, Slam Dunk Contest, and Three Point Contest. The event, the Most Ghastly Tattoo Contest, will pit a dozen players against each other to determine who has the most nightmarish body art.
“It’s a really creative and interesting way to judge which player exercised the worst judgment,” said Commissioner David Stern, who came up with the idea. “Have you seen some of the tats on these guys? I’m talking about ish crawling up their necks, full sized portraits of deceased loved ones, entire Bible verses, swear words – the whole nine yards. It’s about time somebody determined which of these is the most ghastly. Keep the kids away from the TV, though. You don’t want them to realize there are people in the world with such poopy taste.” Allen Iverson, Mike Bibby, Doug Christie, Kenyon Martin, and Stephon Marbury have already signed up for the contest, while Dennis Rodman has been secured as a guest judge. "

 

[tobiazz]

The other sets the rim at 11 1/2 feet and has Howard purportedly going between his legs with the ball in mid-air before flushing.

unreal

 

[Suns_fan69]

I'd be interested to see the list of players that could even dunk on a 12ft rim, nevermind a 360. Damn league officials!

 

[FArting]

The sophomores are killing the rookies at the halftime.

 

[Sunshooter]

The sophomores are killing the rookies at the halftime.

ESPN analysis on Iavaroni : Nice job, but too zealous for an exhibition game

 

[BirdMan21]

All-Star practices are on NBATV....the eastern stars just finished thier practice in a pretty normal fashion. Half court shootout followed by a dance contest. Shaq is maybe the most enteraining person in sports right now, it was just hilarious.

 

[green machine]

Poor Dwight Howard, he gets screwed because he's tall. He should be in the dunk contest finals with Green.

EDIT: Although Amare's dunk a couple years back was pretty great in its own right....http://youtube.com/watch?v=mSddOzsxIjk

 

[Espo]

Poor Dwight Howard, he gets screwed because he's tall. He should be in the dunk contest finals with Green.

EDIT: Although Amare's dunk a couple years back was pretty great in its own right....http://youtube.com/watch?v=mSddOzsxIjk

Agreed. Dwight Howard was creative and did something we had never seen before.

 

[jbeecham]

Howard put that sticker 12+ft high......I don't even think the judges realized what he did.

 

[D-Dogg]

Dwight should have been in the finals. And a couple of Green's dunks weren't all that impressive either...just sold well. They looked fantastic real time, and ok slo-mo.

Dwight's sticker was awesome. Nate's early dunks were better than his finals ones, by far. Weird.

Off the side of the backboard and the Dee Brown homage were both fantastic dunks from Green though...even the last one over the table was good but not great.

I wanted to see what else Dwight had to bring though...the sticker was great.