The Top 5 of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest
The most memorable moments of the most anticipated All Star Saturday contest
Sports
February 14th, 2020
February 14th, 2020
The dunk is the most iconic gesture of basketball, it is the movement par excellence that "tends to the sky", what all children dream of one day being able to do; in Space Jam a Michael Jordan child-version spent the nights trying to reach heights forbidden to most with the hope of being able to take off, succeeding a few years later.
The All Star Weekend, in addition to the matches of the stars, has been a symbol of entertainment especially since 1984, the year in which the slam dunk contest was introduced.
Last year Hamidou Diallo won it, first climbing over Shaq to overcome the elimination phase, then getting the ball up from Quavo to win the contest.
Every year, something never seen is expected, the general public wants to see ever higher jumps and increasingly complicated stunts, similar to those that could be created with the "Slam dunk" mode in EA Sports' NBA Live. Will this year's Slam Dunk Contest be where we will see a double eastbay?
In the meantime, let's retrace what were the 5 best moments in the history of the contest:
#5 His Airness vs The Human Highlight Film: Chicago 1988
In a contest where ''nature jokes'' like Clyde Drexler and Spudd Webb also take part, it is Michael and Dominique who drive the crowd crazy; in the final phase Wilkins tries to surprise everyone with a two-handed windmill with dazzling power, but it is Jordan who leaves everyone with his mouth wide open jumping from the free throw line and, after walking in midair, nails the orange after having fully extended every limb. A dunk that will remain forever in memory.
After two years of stop due to the NBA lockout, Carter, his teammate Tracy McGrady and Steve Francis set up a noteworthy show (and that has just celebrated its twentieth anniversary). In particular, Carter indulges himself with a 360-windmill, a between-the-legs and an elbow dunk in which he completely pushes the ball into the iron.
It was not the most spectacular contest ever but how not to give credit to such a polished Dwight (and so in fact, it has not been seen until this year): against a reigning champion Gerald Green he first shows a dunk in which he raises the ball and, when it is already in flight, makes it bounce on the board with a touch with the left hand, and then nail it in the iron with the right hand. After that, after staging a change of costume in a telephone booth, jump from the bezel and nail a ball left very behind the head. All this with the superman cloak.
If it weren't for his friend Zach, he would be at number 1, hands down. She pulls out a 360 with her hand behind his head and a panic underboth legs, increasing the coefficient of difficulty by letting the ball be held by a mascotte that turns on itself with a hoverboard. Athletic gestures to wink at a predestined specialty.
There is nothing to say, every dunk in the contest has blown every fan up. In 2015 he first unveiled a reverse between the legs wearing the Space Jam jersey of Jordan, then a behind the back in flight, then two other versions of between the legs, first raised by a partner and then raised against the board. He wins easy.
The following year he set up together with Gordon (the one who is at number two, not surprisingly) the best dunk race ever: a 360 with a hold from below, a free-throw line windmill (you can hardly say so it's difficult), under the legs with two-handed reverse closure and free-throw line between the legs to win.
Stuff not to believe in, a race of dunks ended in extra time had never been seen before.
