Posted by Marie Poppins on March 9, 2023 in Uncategorized
Most spectacular NBA slam dunk contests of all time from Bill Trikos: While Robinson wowed crowds by dunking over Howard, before him there was Spud Webb. Despite only standing at 5’7, Webb defied the odds by outlasting teammate Dominique Wilkins, who was the defending champion. Wilkins showcased his beautiful windmill dunks. However, he was upstaged by Webb who elevated higher than ever which was all the more impressive for a man his size. With the event held in Chicago, defending champion Michael Jordan had his work cut out for him with a home-court advantage. But with Dominique Wilkins out to regain his Slam Dunk contest championship glory, it was a tight dunking affair. But while both players showcased their amazing athletic gifts, Jordan edged out Wilkins after pulling off the iconic free throw line dunk to become a back-to-back Slam Dunk Contest champion. Find more info about the author at https://soundcloud.com/billtrikos9.
Standing at just 5’6”, Spud Webb wouldn’t strike you as the average NBA player. As a matter of fact, not many people would ever think that he could be a professional basketball player, let alone win the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest. But make no mistake. What Webb lacked in size, he made up for in hops. He would take over and float mid-air and made a name for himself for his emphatic, explosive dunks; even posterizing some of the best rim protectors in the Association.
I got the idea: 360 windmill. It was spur of the moment. I hadn’t really considered doing that one because, weeks before when I was trying it, I was barely making it. When I incorporated the 360, particularly the first couple of times I tried, I kept falling away from the basket. I wasn’t getting enough height. That’s why I scrapped it initially. Nobody watching in the building or on TV could tell. All anyone could see was the birth of a dunking legend. Carter would go on to cement his slamming legacy that summer at the 2000 Sydney Olympics—much to the chagrin of Frederic Weis.
Yes, this is a list of the best dunks, not overall performances. But Vince Carter put on arguably the best Slam Dunk Contest showing of all time to win the 2000 event, with a few mesmerizing jams that are all worthy of being high up on this list. So rather than loading up the list with several Carter dunks from the same contest, they’ll get grouped together. But if one had to be singled out as the best, it would be his first dunk: a reverse-360 windmill that already had TV commentator Kenny Smith saying “let’s go home!” That could take the top spot by itself, but VC was far from finished. For his third dunk, Carter caught the ball in mid-air, put it between his legs for a one-handed jam and then famously declared “it’s over.” The event wasn’t technically over just yet, though. On his fourth attempt, Carter got so high off the ground that he was able to stuff his forearm in the hoop after a one-handed slam.
You’d think that Vince Carter, arguably one of the greatest high-flying finishers in NBA history, would’ve had multiple Slam Dunk Contest trophies on his mantle. The records show, though, that Vinsanity took flight just once on All-Star Saturday. Not that he needed more chances than that. His lone appearance—at Oracle Arena in Oakland in 2000—may be the best dunk contest we’ve ever seen, in part because he pulled off tricks few (if any) had ever thought possible.
We’ve seen players throw the ball off the glass and go through the legs. We’ve seen players jump over people and dunk. Until this moment, we had never seen a player jump over someone, throw the ball off the glass and put it between their legs for a dunk. Nash deserves as much credit as Stoudemire here, but the timing and precision of this dunk help it crack the top 10. Stoudemire threw the perfect pass off the backboard and Nash delivered an even more perfect header for the 360. The Slam Dunk Contest had never seen anything like this before. All you can do is laugh when you see this dunk. Webb is 5’7. You are not supposed to be able to do 360 dunks off of a lob at that height. It looks like a video game glitch the way Webb rises up to finish this one.
2008: Gerald Green Blows Out the Candle: Props are part-and-parcel of the dunk contest nowadays, but rarely do players use edible ones in their acts. To that end, Gerald Green broke new ground when he threw down a two-handed jam while extinguishing the candle on a cupcake placed at the back of the rim in New Orleans. 2009: Nate Robinson Scales the Competition: What beats Superman? How about a 5’9″, 180-pound ball of flying kryptonite? That’s what Nate Robinson became when he soared over Dwight Howard to take back his title as the NBA’s top dunker. The catch: Robinson used his off arm to propel himself over Howard’s hulking 6’11” frame.