February 26, 2012
by Mike Ortiz Jr.
A very less talented Dunk Contest to say the least.
Houston Rockets’ guard Chase Budinger, Minnesota Timberwolves’ forward and favorite, Derrick Williams, Indiana Pacers’ guard Paul George, and the replacement, taking New York Knicks guard Iman Shumpert’s spot, Utah Jazz forward Jeremy Evans all took the floor Saturday night for the NBA’s annual Slam Dunk Contest. However the judges who always take the floor wouldn’t this time around as this years Dunk contest was all decided by the fans. But don’t worry we decided to review the dunks and give you, the fans a vote from 1 to 10.
Starting off with Chase Budinger’s dunk, coming out in a t-shirt and a snap back hat on and then telling singer P-Diddy to go underneath the basket where he would then throw a lob to Budinger who then dunked over him. Other than bringing out P-Diddy there was really no creativity to it as everyone’s seen someone dunk over someone.
Rating: 6
Prop Rating: 7
Next up was replacement Jeremy Evans who would do a reverse, self-lob dunk to himself. It was a very easy, non-creative dunk. However the unique thing about it was that he had a video camera attached to his headband which was eye level and it put the viewers “in his shoes.”
Rating: 5
Prop Rating: 10
Next up was Paul George who would dunk over teammate 7’2 Center Roy Hibbert and other teammate 6’7 Dahntay Jones. Clearing them both as well as jumping from a couple steps in from the free throw line gave the crowd the first “woah dunk” of the night.
Rating: 8
Prop Rating: 9
Following up George was Derrick Williams, the favorite who came right out in full force as he came out on the back of a motorcycle, which he then had the mascot park it in the middle of the paint. Williams then did a windmill over it ending it with a powerful slam. It was cool to see a motorcycle used however it was very similar to Blake Griffin’s dunk over the car last year, which was a lot harder.
Rating: 7
Prop Rating: 10
Evans rises over Hayward with two basketballs in hand.
To start off the second round Budinger then came out and did a windmill dunk. It wasn’t over anyone and it wasn’t from a far distance, in better words, it was Williams’ dunk just without the motorcycle.
Rating: 3
Prop Rating: 0
After not impressing fans with his first dunk that involved no props or fancy moves, Evans would come out and comeback strong as he brought teammate Gordon Hayward out with him. Unlike the others who used their prop to dunk over, Evans instead not only used Hayward as a human measuring bar, but used him for an alley hoop. An alley hoop that involved two basketballs. Yes, that’s right Evans caught two basketballs in the air, while jumping over Hayward who was in a raised bar stool/seat, and then dunked the basketballs that he caught at the same time.
Rating: 10
Prop Rating: 10
Following up Evans impressive dunk, George would cut the lights at the AMWAY arena as he was wearing a glow and the dark uniform. While cutting the lights George would then rise up do a 360 dunk. It was a great use of props as he cut the lights and had a glow and the dark uniform. However the only problem was that it was too dark to see.
Rating: 8
Prop Rating: 10
Putting the second round to rest, Williams would bring out teammate Ricky Rubio who would throw the ball off the side of the backboard, where Williams who was following him, would grab the pass in the air, then he would do a 360 finishing the dunk. It was a similar dunk to Philadelphia 76ers Andre Iguodala’s dunk back in 2006, however he added a 360 and Ricky Rubio to it.
Rating: 8
Prop Rating: 7
Budinger whoops out the good old fashioned blind fold.
After not impressing anyone with his first two dunks, Budinger would bring out former dunk Champion of the 1992 All-Star game, Cedric Ceballos and re-iterate his “hocus pocus” dunk of 1992. After blind folding himself, Budinger after missing on his first attempt would dunk it on his second try, completing the hocus pocus in the Ceballos jersey. It was a great use of bringing out Ceballos and a great use of re-iterating the dunk on its 20th anniversary.
Rating: 9
Prop Rating: 10
Trying to top his second round dunk of the two ball slam, Evans would bring out comedian Kevin Hart who was dressed up as a mailwomen while Evans was wearing a Karl Malone jersey. Using Hart as a mailwomen due to Malone’s nickname the mailman, Evans would fly over Hart delivering the dunk and the “mail.” However, this was the third time in the contest where we saw someone jump over someone, so it wasn’t that creative.
Rating: 6
Prop Rating: 7
Making a tribute to his current boss, Larry Bird, George would do a reverse slam where he would place a sticker of Bird’s face on the backboard while in the air. While it was as impressive as Orlando’s Dwight Howard’s sticker dunk where he dunked on a 12’6 rim, George’s dunk was unique in its own way.
Rating: 5
Prop Rating: 6
Then to close out the dunk contest, Williams would try a off the backboard, through the legs dunk over and over again, ending with the same result; failure. After finally running out of time, he would throw the ball off the backboard, catching it and dunking it normally ending the Dunk Contest.
Rating: 3
Prop Rating: 0
Well now that the dunks are done and that the votes are in, let’s tally up the votes and see who our dunk champion and prop champion is.
Winning the prop champion was Utah Jazz’s, Jeremy Evans with a score of 27 out of 30. Following behind him would be Paul George, Derrick Williams and Chase Budinger who would tie for last with 17. Then for the Dunk Champion there would be a two tie for first and last as, Chase Budinger and Derrick Williams would finish last with 18 out of 30 and Jeremy Evans and Paul George would finish first with 21 out of 30. However the Sprite Slam Dunk Champion due to a higher prop rating is Jeremy Evans.
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Mike Ortiz Jr.
