Looks Like Slam Dunk Contest WAS Fixed

[ACF]

http://benmaller.com/2011/02/blake-griffin-couldnt-lose-slam-dunk-contest/

Judge for yourselves, I am not to say if it's true or not. I wouldn't be surprised, though.

[mgent]

Blake Griffin is the most searched athlete in the history of Youtube?!?!?

I've never searched him.  Hard to believe for a rookie.

[fairweatherfan]

Could've been an honest mistake in this case.  But I will say that given how much money and ad time Kia had wrapped up in the car dunk, and that the car dunk was saved for the finals, it seemed to me that there was no way Griffin would've been kept out of the finals at the very least.  Seems sketchy at best.

As an aside, whenever anyone compares the NBA to pro wrestling, just show them a tape of this dunk contest.  THAT is what pro basketball as pro wrestling looks like.  For all the in-game issues the league has, it's not close to that kind of manufactured spectacle.

[BballTim]

  I thought that it was well known that the contest was fixed since Jordan beat Nique. That was, what, 15-20 years ago?

[the_Bird]

Of course it was fixed.  That was obvious from the instant they brought out a [dang] NBA-approved Kia, instead of a car that a pro athlete would actually own.  

[mgent]

Blake Griffin is the most searched athlete in the history of Youtube?!?!?

I've never searched him.  Hard to believe for a rookie.

Maybe not, the link said "most searched athlete in the world" but after I clicked on it it said since September and with the word "highlights."

How misleading.

[ACF]

  I thought that it was well known that the contest was fixed since Jordan beat Nique. That was, what, 15-20 years ago?

23.

[GreenEnvy]

All I know is his very first dunk was extremely underrated. That two-handed 360 corkscrew was pretty sick.

Of course they made sure he made the finals, and from there it was easy sailing (if the fan vote is even legit).


They need to revamp the rules, hopefully soon. No more 2 minutes to get your dunk off. I was watching old dunk contests on NBA TV prior to all-star weekend, and these guys just went out there and did their dunks one after another, allowed one miss. Ray Allen had some nice dunks and finished with a 36 (best dunk counts). Kobe made the three-man finals with a 38.

Now, if you execute any dunk within the first 4 tries you are guaranteed a 47+.

[footey]

1. doubtful.
2. don't care.

[StartOrien]

Of course it was fixed.  That was obvious from the instant they brought out a [dang] NBA-approved Kia, instead of a car that a pro athlete would actually own.  

They only brought out the car in the finals, where he won in a fan vote against Javale McGee. He's 5 billion times more popular than Jafail, and clearly had a better final 2 dunks.

[BballTim]

  I thought that it was well known that the contest was fixed since Jordan beat Nique. That was, what, 15-20 years ago?

23.

  Haha. What a coincidence.

  And, for the record, all fans of the nba have been forbidden from using the number "23" by LeBron, out of respect to Jordan. In a post, it needs to be written out as "twenty three". In a conversation it needs to be pronounced "two three".

[WeMadeIt17]

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.

[angryguy77]

Just a typo I'm sure

Makes one wonder if they fix the dunk contest, what else would they fix........

[Sizzlack]

Of course it was fixed.  That was obvious from the instant they brought out a [dang] NBA-approved Kia, instead of a car that a pro athlete would actually own.  

They only brought out the car in the finals, where he won in a fan vote against Javale McGee. He's 5 billion times more popular than Jafail, and clearly had a better final 2 dunks.

But answer these questions and really think about it, if that dunk didn't win for Blake, does Kia role out their subsequent ad campaign? Do you think they want to center a campaign around a "second place" dunk? Who's the biggest sponsor for the all star game, think all the money would have been there if it wasn't their car on the court?

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck.

Clearly fixed, but it was entertaining, and in the end, that's all I really care about.

Note: I don't want any Celtics players in the event, ever. Why risk injury for an event that's clearly fixed.

[CelticG1]

Of course it was fixed.  That was obvious from the instant they brought out a [dang] NBA-approved Kia, instead of a car that a pro athlete would actually own.  

They only brought out the car in the finals, where he won in a fan vote against Javale McGee. He's 5 billion times more popular than Jafail, and clearly had a better final 2 dunks.

But answer these questions and really think about it, if that dunk didn't win for Blake, does Kia role out their subsequent ad campaign? Do you think they want to center a campaign around a "second place" dunk? Who's the biggest sponsor for the all star game, think all the money would have been there if it wasn't their car on the court?

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck.

Clearly fixed, but it was entertaining, and in the end, that's all I really care about.

Note: I don't want any Celtics players in the event, ever. Why risk injury for an event that's clearly fixed.

It is kind of odd. Did Blake think to him self "you know what would be cool? To dunk over the officially sponsered car of the NBA" and really if it wasn't his idea who's was it Kenny Smith? Why would any of those guys think that is cool? If anything it made it more lame to be advertising that