Saturday night Superman engaged in an epic battle versus his one weakness: Kryptonite... and lost. The battle took place not in Metropolis or even in a comic book, it was on the basketball court in Phoenix. Ok, it was not really Superman it Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson in 2009 NBA All-Star Dunk Contest. The theatrics were great (full disclosure: I am a Superman comic book fan, so combining The Man of Steel and Hoops is always a win for me) .
First, Howard jumped into a phone booth and transformed into his alter ego Superman (which was weird because he was in there for a whole minute and did not put the cape on until after he came out, what was he doing in there?). He made dunking on a 12 ft. hoop look like the easiest thing in the world. Then, Nate Robinson returned from the locker room sporting an all green Knicks uniform complete with Kryptonite shoes and ball. The little guy finished Howard off by dunking over him and in the process gave him the ultimate disrespect; the Tea bag (go play Halo if you do not understand).
Looking back on it now though, the dunks were not impressive. I felt that the two best dunks, skill wise, were Dwight Howard's bounce off the side of the backboard and Rudy Fernandez with the behind the backboard bounce pass from Gasol. Strangely, they were the first dunks by both contestants. Shouldn't the dunks get better as the contest goes on? And Nate Robinson's signature dunk over Howard was the same thing he did two years ago; jumping over Spud Webb. Howard probably could have won if he made the dunk on the 12 ft. hoop look harder. It looked totally unimpressive, discounting the fact that he had jump two feet higher. So I was impressed with the competition, but at the same time disappointed with the skill set.
However, anticipation for next year could not be higher. LeBron says he will finally participate. I stay awake at night dreaming of the craziness that King James will bring. But it will only be better if some other big name guys will join him. Of course Robinson comes back to defend his title, even though I don't really like him. Howard needs to come back, because he brought back the excitement for the contest. I think Dwayne Wade is the other guy who should participate. And really they should expand the participants from 4 to 6. More dunks are never a bad thing. But the only thing we can do is wait. The countdown has begun to what could be the best Dunk Contest of all-time, woohoo!!
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