Dunk Contest

[jbeecham]

I'm a homer, but I think Amare got robbed.

Josh Smith's dunks have all been done before even though he did them well so they shouldn't have been perfect 50's.

The dunk where Amare threw the ball off the backboard and Nash bounced it off his head to Alley-oop it to Amare for a reverse slam was unbelieveable. Other than his 1st dunk, Amare was doing things that haven't been done before.

Also, the new rule where missed dunks don't count is simply stupid. Chris Anderson took about 8 tries to make one dunk. Also, the rules stated that the guys wouldn't be penalized for their missed opportunities, but the judges obviously took that into account when they scored the dunks. Julius Earving (a judge) even admitted he gave Amare a 9 because he missed his first 2 attempts on his between the legs reverse jam.

 

[boisesuns]

the announcers were going on about wanting to see origional stuff...

hey josh smith, someone has already done that dunk and wore the same jersey! that's as unorigional as it gets. i actually like JR smith's behind the back dunk in round 1.

Amare and nash were great. Awesome bounce off the backboard, off nashing head, then a one handed reverse throwdown by amare.

Josh smith's dunk over kenyon was his best.

Bring back Majerle!!!

 

[jbeecham]

Josh Smith's behind the back dunk was really good too. He deserved more than a 45 for that. I wasn't as impressed with Josh Smith's dunk over Kenyon Martin because he went around Martin on the dunk. One of his feet went over Martin's shoulder and the other one went off to the side. If his feet went over Martin's head (Kenyon was sitting in a chair) then I'd give him a 50.

 

[Joe Mama]

I agree that the first Steve Nash/Amare Stoudemire slamdunk was great. That was a 50 all the way. The second one with Steve Nash would have been great, but it really wasn't Amare Stoudemire doing most of the work.

I thought all of Josh Smith's slamdunk were great. He did them all on the first try. I thought that was very important. The Julius Erving dunk he easily could have made if he had taken off from behind the line. I mean he was well over the rim when he threw that one down. That slamdunk with Kenyon Martin was awesome. I'm not sure the first one in the finals deserved a 50, but I definitely think the second one did. I mean he just gets so high and is so smooth. I thought he deserved it all the way.

Joe Mama

 

[jbeecham]

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You're telling me he jumped over him???

Also, I think Amare barely tried on his last dunk because he knew he couldn't win. Josh Smith was already given two perfect 50's for dunks with no creativity and Amare got a 45 on his first dunk.

 

[slinslin]

Josh Smith had no creativity. All his dunks have been seen before.

And people who say that Nash made those dunks for Amare, get real. The whole timing for the dunk and the lob came from Amare. Nash just had it bounce of his head any half decent soccer player can do that. Anyone can do that actually.

Their last attempt was just Nash kicking it up and Amare creating something out of it. Obviously it didn't work out since he had already lost anyway.

That between the leg 2-handed reverse going under the hoop had to be the most difficult dunk of the night. It wasn't the prettiest but surely the most difficult.

 

[elindholm]

We aren't actually going to whine that Stoudemire got robbed in the dunk contest, are we?

 

[jbeecham]

Why not? I wanted a Suns sweep

 

[MigratingOsprey]

seriously, smith was consistently better

although the amare/nash one was the dunk of the night

also the one with the other smith in teh first round was pretty sick and very original

the one w/kenyon in it was nuts, look where he took off from on that .....

also he put them all down hard and put them down on the first attempt

I remember when kemp was back in the contests and just couldn't win because he couldn't do some of the set stuff others could

in a game no one was sicker than kemp, but he didn't have enough to get over and win the top spot

i think amare may be heading in that direction (not that it matters)

if you look only at the 2 dunks in the final round, there is no way that smith is not the winner

 

[elindholm]

Big guys can't win unless the smaller guys screw up. I said from the beginning that I was surprised Stoudemire even agreed to participate.

 

[Joe Mama]

Josh Smith is at least 6'8". I do agree that these swing men have the advantage over the power players though. They get better hang time, and they just look smoother doing the dunks.

BTW that picture of Josh Smith's slam dunk over Kenyon Martin makes it look like Smith jumps off of Martin's shoulder. However I thought when they showed the video in slow motion from another angle it was very clear that his foot never touched the shoulder. It looked like there was at least a couple of inches in between there.

Joe Mama

 

[slinslin]

Btw, Josh Smith was "my guy" in last years draft.

 

[jbeecham]

Josh Smith is at least 6'8". I do agree that these swing men have the advantage over the power players though. They get better hang time, and they just look smoother doing the dunks.

BTW that picture of Josh Smith's slam dunk over Kenyon Martin makes it look like Smith jumps off of Martin's shoulder. However I thought when they showed the video in slow motion from another angle it was very clear that his foot never touched the shoulder. It looked like there was at least a couple of inches in between there.

Joe Mama

He definately didn't touch Martin's shoulder, but his other foot was going too so he moved his foot around Martin's shoulder and dunked. It was still a great dunk, but not better than the Amare & Nash dunk.

 

[PhxGametime]

I did like Josh Smith in Draft but I still prefer Iguodala... Smith was 1 of my top choices for Trade Proposal's that were pure dreaming, in the Poll though it was that Suns had a shot at, so I picked Hart/Mourning. IMO Smith can play 3 positions on a Suns team but there's no shot to get him now I would've liked to see Iguodala in contest, another 3 position player... oops probably 4 position on a Suns team.



I liked most of the dunks, but too many attempts - I'd give maybe 1 or 2 missed dunks to qualify but 15 to 20 attempts is way too many

 

[jbeecham]

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A slightly different angle.

I liked it better when they had 2 chances per Dunk Attempt. If they missed once then they had to make the next. I think this was the NBA's way of trying to get guys to try spectacular dunks, which they did........except for the winner. The judges punished guys who couldn't make it on the 1st try, even though the rules said there would be no penalties for missed dunk attempts. Evidently the judges didn't get the memo on the rules.

 

[fordronken]

I can't believe you guys are complaining. Did you see Josh Smith's dunk? He took a ball, wearing a Wilkens jersey no less, and wound the ball around with his arms, like...like...like...like a WINDMILL!!! Who has ever done a slamdunk that looked like a WINDMILL!!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Honestly, he deserved two 50s. Perfect scores. It was physically impossible for him to have possibly performed better dunks. Those were perfect. I wept.

And by the way, Chris Anderson would have won if he had 94987398754398734598734598745 more attempts. I rest my case.

 

[Chaplin]

I can't believe you guys are complaining. Did you see Josh Smith's dunk? He took a ball, wearing a Wilkens jersey no less, and wound the ball around with his arms, like...like...like...like a WINDMILL!!! Who has ever done a slamdunk that looked like a WINDMILL!!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Honestly, he deserved two 50s. Perfect scores. It was physically impossible for him to have possibly performed better dunks. Those were perfect. I wept.

I'm going out on a limb here and saying that this is sarcasm, right?

 

[jbeecham]

I'm thinking it's either sarcasm or he's never seen the dunk contest before.

Besides, Josh Smith did 2 windmill dunks and both were in the finals and both got perfect 50 scores.........now that's originality. Technically one was a windmill dunk that went clockwise instead of counter-clockwise, but a windmill none-the-less.

 

[Gaddabout]

It doesn't really matter what Josh Smith or Amare Stoudemire did. No one's nver been better than Larry Nance. I spit on young punks who say other wise.

meh!

 

[fordronken]

I'm going out on a limb here and saying that this is sarcasm, right?

Sorry, I can't read your response since I just stabbed myself in the eyes.

 

[azdad1978]

Stoudemire finishes 2nd

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 20, 2005 12:00 AM

DENVER - The NBA's best two-man game combination translated well to Saturday's slam dunk competition, but even double teaming Atlanta's high-rising rookie Josh Smith was not enough.

Amaré Stoudemire reached the finals with a slam off Steve Nash's header, but he needed four tries to get the first of his two finals dunks down. That opened the door for Smith, who really did not need the help.

Paying homage with a Dominique Wilkins jersey, Smith scored perfect 50s twice from the panel of the famous 1976 ABA dunk contest competitors for a Wilkins-like windmill and a 360-degree spin-and-slam.


Stoudemire still made it memorable, calling on Nash's soccer skills for two of his tries. A first-round dunk had Stoudemire throwing the ball off the glass for Nash, once a high school soccer championships MVP, to head like an alley-oop. On the second try, Nash put it in front of the rim and Stoudemire reversed a two-hand slam.

That, along with a baseline double-clutch reverse, put Stoudemire in the finals. His first finals dunk effectively eliminated him because he needed four tries to make a jam that opened with a between-the-legs move along the baseline and finished as a reverse.

"The dunk between the legs backwards was one of the hardest dunks to do," Stoudemire said. "That was a tough score (he got all nines)."

Smith had his two 50s, knocking out Stoudemire, when Nash and Stoudemire tried to team up again with Nash flipping the ball off the floor with his feet. The pass or finish did not click until the eighth attempt. Even in a couple practices in Phoenix, they had problems connecting.

Stoudemire scored 87 on his two final dunks to Smith's 100.

"Josh did some crazy things out there," Stoudemire said. "He deserved it."

Stoudemire was trying to become the first Phoenix player and first player at 6 feet 10 or taller to win since Larry Nance won the inaugural contest in 1984.


http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0220allstardunk0220.html

 

[azdad1978]

Stoudemire pulls out soccer slam

By Scott Bordow, Tribune

DENVER - Amaré Stoudemire and Steve Nash have teamed up to produce 41 victories this season.

They almost collected No. 42 Saturday night in the NBA Slam Dunk contest.

Nash used the soccer skills he learned as a kid to help Stoudemire to a second-place finish, worth $15,000.

Atlanta’s Josh Smith won the event by posting two perfect scores of 50 in the final round. Stoudemire’s two dunks earned him a combined score of 87.

"Josh did some crazy things out there," Stoudemire said. "He deserved it. The guy can really get up."

Stoudemire got to the finals thanks to the most imaginative dunk of the night. He threw the ball off the backboard toward Nash, who then headed it, soccer style, back to Stoudemire for a reverse one-handed dunk.

"That was my idea," Stoudemire said. "Me and Steve practiced maybe a couple of times."

The crowd loved the ingenuity, and the five judges all gave Stoudemire perfect 10s. Combined with his first dunk, a double-clutch reverse baseline slam, he was in the finals with Smith.

Stoudemire was disappointed that his first slam in the finals — a reverse baseline between-the-legs dunk — only was scored a 45 by the five judges.

"I think that’s one of the hardest dunks to do," Stoudemire said.

Once Smith scored a 50 on his second finals dunk, Stoudemire had no chance.

But he tried to wow the crowd anyway, attempting a dunk in which Nash flipped the ball up to him with his feet. The two couldn’t connect on their first seven tries, however, and Stoudemire halfheartedly dunked the ball on his eighth go-round, scoring just 42 points.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=36737

 

[Joe Mama]

Josh Smith is a pretty good young player. I was impressed when I heard that the player he tries to emulate is Kirilenko. Smith has already had 2-3 games this year with 10+ blocks. Last year's draft looks pretty good so far.

Joe Mama

 

[Mike Olbinski]

I'm a homer too, but come on guys, Josh Smith deserved to win that thing...he got the best reactions from the fans...and putting on Wilkin's jersey was a stroke of genius.

The first Amare dunk with Nash was nice, but the second was just too much Nash being involved...

And Smith's last two rocked....the showed serious hang time and athleticism...

Good overall contest....

Mike

 

[asudevil83]

i missed the dunk contest...

but i did see the Amare/Nash dunk....that was pretty sick.

i was really suprised not to see a dunk from the freethrow line from amare. i think he can do it...and that would have definately won the contest for him.