Howard didn't take home the trophy, but he may just have gotten the fans' vote for injecting the most creativity into this year's contest.
Howard brought a second hoop out for one of his dunks, then disappeared into a phone booth (as promised) on the stage to change into the Superman costume that we now associate with Dwight and his dunks. Once geared up, the second goal (which was positioned on a forklift) was raised up to somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 feet, and Howard made it look easy when he threw down the memorable slam.
Nate Robinson enlisted Howard's help for his show-stopper, and jumped over Howard just as Gerald Green had done to him in the 2007 event in Las Vegas. Why in the world would Howard agree to be a prop that might help his competition beat him?
"It's all about having fun," Howard said. "Hey, he won fair and square. The fans loved it. We tried to put on a good show. That's what it's all about at All-Star weekend. It doesn't matter who wins or loses, it's all about having fun."
Howard seemed to know the final result before it was announced, as he was pointing to Robinson before the envelope was opened. Did he know?
"I saw it already," Howard joked. "He did a good job. I'm not mad or anything. I guess the shorter man will always win in a dunk contest, because it looks real hard for him, it looks easy for me."
In the earlier round, of course, there were other dunkers. Rudy Fernandez enlisted the help of fellow Spaniard Pau Gasol, but Gasol was really no help at all. He was attempting a difficult pass from behind the backboard, off the backboard, which Rudy was attempting to grab with one hand in the air and dunk on the other side of the rim. He ran out of time without completing it, and then nailed it on the next of his final two tries -- but it got a tepid reaction from the crowd after all the failed attempts.
J.R. Smith had power, but not much else. He went to the old gag of having another player pass it to him from the stands, which I believe was a Fred Jones joint from back in 2004. Ultimately, he couldn't score enough favor from the judges to surpass either Robinson's or Howard's first round attempts.
In the end, the night belonged to Nate Robinson. Clad in a green Knicks uniform and green shoes, his Kryptonite gimmick -- and the leap over Howard -- were enough to earn him the title. If it were up to Nate though, he'd be sharing his trophy with Dwight Howard.
"I would love to share the championship with him, cut the trophy right down the half with him for helping me with the dunk for the championship," Robinson said.
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
From the dummy pole: 100% of white males in Terry's demographic do nothing but sit around nervous, fearful, worrying about what black males are doing.
Terry you really need to get a life! 1 in 1,000,000,000 believe that!
To comment #5 from Terry: Incredibly stupid and racist comments, you must've had someone get online and type for you. Please have yourself spayed or neutered, even though Mother Nature will take care of you eventually anyway.A strain of the species so ignorant will fail to survive in the long run, very likely your famous last words will be: "Hey, watch this". Here's America based on your math: one black President, two and one half professors, three and one half ball players, six rappers, and where did you get the figure one in two thousand work full-time? Sadly, your brain isn't even working part-time.
Dwight Howard was robbed of his tittle this year! He should have been the slam dunk Champion
To call Pro basketball a sport is disgusting . To have a 6ft 7ft idiot slam a ball in a ring that he is almost as tall as does not call for any skill at all. The thing that gets me is so many idiots throw away money to attend these events & call it a sport.Your correct . I don't have to watch it and I DON'T
So your upset that your incapable of playing basketball. Cool
Howard didn't impressed me. He was getting 10's by doing nothing. Extremely arrognat for my taste.
Dunks were not exciting at all. This was set up to get Howard and Robison in the Finals. With the exception of Howards dunk off the side of the backboard and Robison jumping over Howard They did nothing very special. Would have been neat to See Howard raise the rim another foot. Watching him dunk @ 12' was like watching a 6'3 guy dunk @ 10'
this is such a ridiculous statement. just because he made it look effortless does not mean it was easy by any means.
and he's only 8 inches taller than a 6'3 guy, yet he raised the rim 24 inches. and you want another 12 inches? don't be so selfish.
psnyder and dabernababy 100% with you!!!
Sin of the father
Sins of the father. If the stats are right about Black men then blame the sins of the father because at one point these people were so valuable to this country a war was fought over their worth. And if some act out to the thought of the holocaust so be it,sin of the father.And if some are admired for a skill for with they were brought here for so be it. Sins of the father.
You need to list all crimes across the USA not just violent crimes.....Drunk drivers kill at the same rate and they're mostly white males.
nycraise... stats are stats you can try and twist them and make fun of the one that presents them but you cant defend them
love dwight howard!!
JPope--who the hell said the statistics are valid? Let me guess...because you saw it on the internet posted by some race baiting neanderthal--how appropriate. Here's the truth--Black are overly represented in the prison population but not because of violent crime. 70% of Black incarcerated are serving time for nonviolent felony drug charges. It's amazing that Blacks can account for almost 55% of all drug arrest but whites comprise almost 80% of Drug Rehabilitation Patients in the USA. http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0453686820071205
We call that selective prosecution. So ummm J Pope...where did he get his stats from? Mine are from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm
[Looks at Peter]
Only a dick would pull the internet superhero act. You father knew you were going to be a coward--that's why he named you DICK.
how much wonderful basketball players team our favorite laker and flames
another team ever more than one else larger than life.
The surprise was not Nate Robinson, it was that dude from Miami winning the 3 point shootout.
Nate Robinson went back and put a green jersey on that was funny. lol
97% of all murder / suicides are commited by white males