Looks Like Slam Dunk Contest WAS Fixed

[EJPLAYA]

The dunk contest is a joke. Letting these guys have "time on the clock" to attempt a dunk 7-8 times before they actually can do it is ridiculous. By the time they get lucky and get one down it isn't even exciting anymore. The old days of one replacement dunk was the right way. Jordan, Dominique, and Spud etc didn't need 8 attempts to get their dunks down.

As far as the car dunk goes, that was a joke. Take away that car and he gets a 35 on it. It wasn't difficult for him to do. Nothing creative, just sticking the nose of a car underneath him. ANY of the competitors could have done that easily. I've got friends in pick up ball that can do that…

Rigged doesn't surprise me with this nonsense. All Star Weekend isn't even worth watching anymore.

[barefacedmonk]

It was all over twitter that he was going to dunk over the car...I think it was on the morning of the drunk contest that it was leaked...maybe that helped garner some votes even before he made that dunk.

[Finkelskyhook]

1. doubtful.
2. don't care.

So much said with so few words.  Absolutely concur.  As meaningless as anything that happened on that weekend.  Waste of time.

[Tai]

I'm on footey's boat.

I honestly doubt it; if Blake loses, so what? Kia doesn't make the commercial. Kia is the NBA sponsor and they wanted their car in Blake's dunk. No doubt some strong-arming by Kia. I'd be more concerned that the All-Star weekend was in LA.

Either way, he was practically the prohibitive favorite due to his in-game dunks; him alone winning now proves it was rigged? It's overall worth a discussion, but I'd still disagree.

Most importantly, I don't care cause honestly...it didn't change the fact that with guys not being able to make their dunk the first or second time, the dunk contest became lackluster. 2 minutes to make a dunk? Man, practice more if you have to in order to get it right.


Yea, Dunk Contest had good dunks, but took forever to execute. Bleh.

[Celtics4ever]

McGee should have won it.  Dunking over a car isn't that hard if you can get up there and tuck your legs a little.  Trouble is most fans can tell a hard dunk because they can't or could not dunk. 

Back in the day.  I jumped over a 5'8" guy cleared his head with my crotched, spread my legs and dunked it.   I'd did those green park benches too but ways.   Fans like bounce dunks but they are super easy once you have the throws down.  The 360 stuff is hard.   The two rim dunk and the three ball dunk were super hard.  The dunks I miss are the cuff dunks and windmills.  They also underscored the the free jump dunk too I thought.  I didn't have hyper vertical but I am 6'7" and over a 32" and could jump up and get both of the palms of my hands above the white square and I still could not dunk from the free throw line.  But a car np.  But most fans go for the gimmicks.  Be interesting to see how many here in the blog can or could dunk.

I don't like the format nowadays.  It should be three attempts per dunk.  This watching guys miss dunks for a minute thirty is for the birds.

[The Dark Lord Sauron]

Don't really care but I think I remember Nate saying he didn't want to do it cause he felt like The NBA wanted Blake to win.

I'm pretty sure that a Kia Optima is the coolest car one could ever possibly dunk over.

As far as Nate Robinson not wanting to compete in the 2011 NBA - Sprite Slam Dunk Contest because he thought that the NBA wanted Blake Griffin to win, well, maybe Nate Robinson didn't realize that Griffin would be dunking over a Kia Optima, and that his participation in the dunk contest this year wouldn't have mattered, anyways.

If you want to see something that was clearly rigged (i.e. the exact opposite of the 2011 NBA - Sprite Slam Dunk Contest) check out this video of Kobe Bryant just barely escaping being run over by an Aston Martin convertible and drowning in a pool of snakes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dcv9qzWrps

**disclaimer** no 'Kobe Bryants' were harmed during the filming of that video.

[Bahku]

As soon as they left it up to the general public, it became a popularity contest, and Griffin is one of the most popular new players in the NBA today, (for obvious reasons). The car dunk was one of the easiest dunks ever, and like Dwight and his stupid cape, (whcih wasn't even a dunk), it was all about props.

McGee should easily have won this, but like I said, it was about popularity, not skill. If they're going to involve the general public, it will walways be about who they like the most, and not talent or skill. They need to get it back into the hands of the people who know best ... the previous participants.

[guava_wrench]

Like just an email mistake. I mean, if a league is that involved that they are fixing events, wouldn't they be involved enough to mask it? Really weak speculation.

Regarding the results, the judging in dunk contests are a joke. They vote way too early without replay and multiple angles. This allows their preconceptions to have too much influence and leads to a lot of expected outcomes like with Griffin.

There doesn't seem to be any reason to think that the league or anyone else is telling judges who to favor (when judges made selections). But all the judges were admiring the same people. Giving fans a say guarantees that the most popular player will win even if out-dunked. Look at Bieber's MVP.

Of course Mcgee had no sponsors. He can dunk, but he has no marketability. He is a decent player on a horrible team. Even if Griffin lost, kids would rather meet with him than with whoever won.

[guava_wrench]

Don't really care but I think I remember Nate saying he didn't want to do it cause he felt like The NBA wanted Blake to win.

I'm pretty sure that a Kia Optima is the coolest car one could ever possibly dunk over.

As far as Nate Robinson not wanting to compete in the 2011 NBA - Sprite Slam Dunk Contest because he thought that the NBA wanted Blake Griffin to win, well, maybe Nate Robinson didn't realize that Griffin would be dunking over a Kia Optima, and that his participation in the dunk contest this year wouldn't have mattered, anyways.

If you want to see something that was clearly rigged (i.e. the exact opposite of the 2011 NBA - Sprite Slam Dunk Contest) check out this video of Kobe Bryant just barely escaping being run over by an Aston Martin convertible and drowning in a pool of snakes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dcv9qzWrps

^sadly, no 'Kobe Bryants' were harmed during the filming of that video, though I'm sure that the next time someone tries to run Kobe Bryant over with a motorized vehicle they will make sure that he isn't looking  

This never gets old

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-DO80IKyIk

[Roy H.]

I don't know if this is conclusive proof of it, but yeah, I definitely think the contest was predetermined.  I could easily have seen Blake finish third or even fourth based upon the dunks completed.

[guava_wrench]

I don't know if this is conclusive proof of it, but yeah, I definitely think the contest was predetermined.  I could easily have seen Blake finish third or even fourth based upon the dunks completed.

Letting fans vote definitely gave it away.

He makes it through the first round for reasons typically heard on reality show competitions -- people want to see what else he has prepared and giving him points is a safe move.

[fairweatherfan]

I don't know if this is conclusive proof of it, but yeah, I definitely think the contest was predetermined.  I could easily have seen Blake finish third or even fourth based upon the dunks completed.

I was pretty annoyed when Serge Ibaka did a FT line dunk from farther back than both Dr J and Jordan, and it got like a 45 and didn't make any of the highlights.  I suppose if he'd had a choir singing and a sparkler sticking out his butt he'd might've had a shot at 50.

[barefacedmonk]

I suppose if he'd had a choir singing and a sparkler sticking out his butt he'd might've had a shot at 50.

LOL

[zerophase]

well it doesn't matter the details of it being "fixed". truth of the matter was that there was no way for him to lose. he was by far the most popular player and the winner was decided by fan voting.... he couldn't lose the same way bieber couldn't lose the mvp vote.

[317]

D league dunk contest is where its at. why its not televised is beyond me. great winning dunk this year but the guy who won had a better one last year(that also won) he did a 720