I can't blame the dunk contest on anybody. There's a finite numbers of dunks that can be done and we've seen them all at this point. The last decade has been riddled with gimmick dunks trying to fight that exact issue. I think all star weekend is fine for what it is. Things are never as good as you remember them when you were younger.
They say tribute dunks aren’t as good as the original and that’s true for the most except MJ made Dr. J look basic AF. Then there’s LaVine making Jordan’s dunk look like a piece of cake. I wish he’d comeback back for one more next year in a Bulls uniform/Jordan jersey. I wouldn’t even be mad if he did similar things to what’s he already done. He makes crazy difficult dunks look effortless and most importantly he nails them the first time.
And power, finesse and hang time. But he did make up for it with a whole lot more “it’s over” motions. Lol When you kill it like Carter you only need to do it once.
This whole all-star weekend is boring. Some nice dunks though, but the commentary ruins it all. Kenny Smith and Reggie need to stfu already, just too much annoying ego talk. - skill challenge: what a failure to have Markannen against a center. You knew he would win, but the contest is terrible anyway. Need to come up with something new. - The 3pt contest: terrible shot making except for Booker and Harris for the most part. Klay got it going a bit, but didn't feel close at any point. Not the contest' fault, it was the players. There were even a few airballs and just horrible off the side of the rim shots. - dunk contest: Mitchell set the tone, Dennis Smith Jr. topped it and then somehow the score got messed up and we started to get 2/3 tries and while Dennis Smith Jr. should've been in the final, that tap dunk by Nance was the best of the finals. The begging by Nance and Mitchell ruined the whole thing, that was pathetic. The throwback by Nance was nice, but Mitchell doing "it's over" was just too much. Copycat **** is getting old. They need to do it like in the past, with just one try, and maybe change the way they are scored in the Finals. Just 1 or 2 dunks each and then they discuss amongst each other who had the best dunk. Should be about the best dunk and tonight the one with the best dunk did not win. Same with Aaron Gordon, who should've won last year / two years ago. Dennis and Nance at least brought something exciting to the table. Mitchell was more about selling himself.
I read that Gordon didn't win, so I was like nah. Reflecting and appreciating the past sounded cool (it's all we do around here). It didn't add a single ounce of value to the festivities?
Going up against the Olympics, did that deteriorate the excitement of the NBA all star weekend a bit? I would say no because Justin Bieber and Kris Wu among st others, made it a good weekend of NBA hoops so far. I like pop music, fight me.
Why not give the top contestants on the Dunk King series a wild card spot? I mean, it's already on TNT, so why not do some cross promotion? I think there would be some more appeal to see how amateur/street dunkers compete with pros. A rising tide lifts all boats.
The older I get, the less I seem to care about All Star Saturday night. Just doesn't have the same allure or zip to it to me. I watch more just to be educated with what happened and less to enjoy the entertainment. Not a fan of props in dunks. Crowd is dead. Feels rote now.
Dunk contests are like drum solos. You can appreciate the skill and physical demands, but after a while, they all seem the same. Dunks are much better in game when they happen in the flow and are contested, much like great drumming is best when surrounded by the rest of the band. The "in-the-moment" creativity is so much better than the planned dunks, just as the synergy between drummer and band is so much better than a drummer banging away by themselves. And while I'm on this tangent, Keith Moon was the greatest in-game dunker to ever play drums.
Just watched this highlight video and noticed how many people tried to play defense in these highlights. I hope they know how embarrassing it is for the NBA to have their biggest stars just doing wide open dunks and shooting 3s all game long without so much as a hand up on defense and they put forth effort tonight.
