Ball Don't Lie - NBA


1. Nate Robinson's "Krypto-Nate" (2nd dunk, Finals): Clad in an all-green Knicks uniform with bright green shoes, the 5-foot-9 "Lex Luthor" springboarded over the 6-foot-11 "Superman." That's like, what, five or six Spud Webbs? Great showmanship from both finalists.

2. Dwight Howard's Off-The-Side-Of-The-Backboard (1st dunk, Finals): Take away all the props, outfit changes and celebratory dance moves, and this was by far the best "pure" dunk of the night. Dwight's extension on the catch was unreal. How many other guys in the league could have done this exact dunk? One? Two? Zero?

3. Howard's "Sky High" (1st dunk, Finals): Does this guy know how to put on a show or what? He hypes the crowd, disappears into a phone booth, emerges with a Superman cape, and then tomahawks a (somewhat poor) pass off-the-glass from teammate Jameer Nelson. Oh, yeah, all on a 12-foot high-ish basket. Dwight Howard is a freak of nature.

4. Howard's Off-The-Bounce, From-Out-Of-Bounds 180 (1st dunk, first round): I docked this one points because he flubbed the toss a few times. But well, anytime someone pulls off something similar to what Vince did in the '00 contest, you know it's cement.

5. Rudy Fernandez's Off-The-Back-Of-The-Glass Oop (1st dunk, first round): It's a shame it took Pau Gasol seven or eight tries to find the back of the backboard's G-spot ... this was one of the best-looking dunks of the night. Kudos to the judges for penalizing Rudy's (er, Pau's) numerous attempts.

6. Robinson's Baseline Off-The-Bounce Reverse Pump (1st dunk, Finals): Had a very Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner feel to it. Hopefully Nate Rob still has an NBA job next season.

7. Howard's "From" The Free-Throw Line (2nd dunk, Finals): Poor planning cost Dwight the title this year. Had he just swapped this anticlimactic foot-over-the-free-throw-line slam with the 12-foot-rim one, he would have strolled into the finals with two "50's" (No. 2 and No. 3) in his back pocket.

8. Robinson's Off-The-Bounce Windmill (1st dunk, first round): Nothing too spectacular, until you remember the lil' Nate Rob is shorter than your freakin' drycleaner.

9. Fernandez's Behind-The-Back, Off-The-Glass (1st dunk, first round): This was a clean (but powerless) dunk that probably deserved better than "42" — especially when you consider he nailed the difficult toss on his first attempt. And while the Fernando Martin jersey was a nice Spanish touch, I'd like to suggest we put the throwbacks in the attic for a few years. It's a little played out.

10. J.R. Smith's Double-Bounce Windmill (1st dunk, first round): The windmill was pretty, but the second bounce did absolutely nothing for me. In fact, I think one bounce (taking off from a little farther back) would have helped his score. Not a bad first effort, though.

11. Smith's Bounce-From-The-Bleachers (2nd dunk, first round): It's a shame J.R. didn’t take a few more cracks at that assisted behind-the-back dunk. That would have been much cooler than throwing down a routine two-hand slam with some guy named Sonny Weems.

12. Robinson's "Step-Up" (2nd dunk, first round): The only way I would have liked this dunk was if he had jumped off of Mike D'Antoni's mustache. I hope Nate picks up Wilson Chandler's chiropractic bills.

Bonus: Don't forget to check out the "better" of this weekend's two dunk contests. It feels good.

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307 Comments

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  1. dunkit29
    1. Posted by dunkit29 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:50 pm EDT

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    wheeeee
  2. Messiahdem
    2. Posted by Messiahdem Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:16 pm EDT

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    2nd, and i dont care if its stupid
  3. jopaks
    3. Posted by jopaks Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:38 pm EDT

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    2nd weeeeeeeeeeeeee
  4. jopaks
    4. Posted by jopaks Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:38 pm EDT

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    6th weeeeeeeeee again
  5. Gnome
    5. Posted by Gnome Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:54 pm EDT

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    Lil Nate is my hero. As a lil man myself i'm always glad to see it when my heught challenged brethren do something major. That last dunk over Dwight was crazy and the kryptonite outfit was genious. I has been saying he should do that but i never thought he would. This was a great contest
  6. Gnome
    6. Posted by Gnome Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:54 pm EDT

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    *height
  7. Ned
    7. Posted by Ned Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:35 pm EDT

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    Fernandez was the most creative, just not real exciting. Robinson can leap, so why did he have to jump off of something like the rest of us have to do to dunk. And yes, he did push off of Howard, there is no one that could leap over him. Howard should have won. Smith had a good first dunk, boring 2nd dunk.
  8. JoeV
    8. Posted by JoeV Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:06 pm EDT

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    superman got robbed
  9. Lukasz K
    9. Posted by Lukasz K Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:00 pm EDT

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    bad overall contest. nates dunk was the only nice dunk of the night. and rudys around the back that was ruined by the mishaps.
  10. barnaby8787
    10. Posted by barnaby8787 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:02 pm EDT

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    LOL, dwight def got t-bagged for a tenth of a second
  11. nimit
    11. Posted by nimit Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:40 pm EDT

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    Third.....
  12. nimit
    12. Posted by nimit Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:40 pm EDT

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    The third dunk by Howard was the best,, he shoulda saved the best for the last
  13. barnaby8787
    13. Posted by barnaby8787 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:02 pm EDT

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    btw, skeets, you're a noob..."some guy"...weems won the college dunk contest if my memory serves me correctly...
  14. Greg Swa
    14. Posted by Greg Swa Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:57 pm EDT

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    Great sportsmanship by dwight howard letting nate jump over him. This guy is a class act and is great for the NBA in general. Look out for Lebron next year though. And Danny Ferry if you read this, Amare+Lebron+Mo+Z+D-West= championships the next two years. period.
  15. amazed
    15. Posted by amazed Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

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    This contest was lame!!!! Only Fernandez had legit dunks. The one off the glass from Gasol was the best dunk of the night. It's not about how hard you can throw it down... it's about athletic abilities and control and Rudy got screwed!!! It's obvious that this is a fixed event and/or the judges are going to put their "homies" through. And since when can you use someone as a spring board and count that as a dunk??? He should have been given a zero or been disqualified for that dunk. Don't call me a Nate hater, because when he throws it down, you have to be impressed given he's not even 6" tall. But if you have to use a "stool" to get to the rim??? Come on!!! Never seen that before. And, if they are going to knock points off for botched attempts, Howard and Nate both missed attempts and still got points they didn't deserve, so that debate is flawed. With the exception of Rudy and the last dunk by Nate over Howard, this was the most boring dunk contest ever!!!
  16. paleface
    16. Posted by paleface Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:35 pm EDT

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    again, Nate wins with an uncreative dunk. The best dunk of the night is Howard's off-the-side-of-backboard! 2nd is Rudy's 2nd dunk, repetition lost it's credit though, but Nate won in '06 with repeating his throw and having a very simple dunk. Nate's dunk while stepping on Wilson Chandler is just ugly, was he a mascot? He could have used a ladder or a spring board instead. Slam Dunk is about leaping ability, hang time and creativity. It just get's boring now. GO Skills Challenge and 3-Point Shootout! At least their winner are deserving.
  17. RUSE (Roose)
    17. Posted by RUSE (Roose) Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:11 pm EDT

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    Howard should have won, Nate shouldn't have even made it to the finals... he jumped off a man and just dunked the ball. They probably staged it though so that Nate could wear his cool green suit and beat Dwight Howard.
  18. Eric L
    18. Posted by Eric L Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:55 pm EDT

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    Rudy pulled off two new dunks. With little to no fanfare. I understand the excitement around Nate but he should not have gotten out of the first round. His two first round dunks were pedestrian even for his height. I feel like he could of pulled any retread dunks out and he still would of made it to the finals. There is little fun in that.
  19. F4T4L
    19. Posted by F4T4L Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:57 pm EDT

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    Fernandez got jobbed with the 42 on his 1st dunk he should of made the finals
  20. yoodisberic
    20. Posted by yoodisberic Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:57 pm EDT

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    I thi9nk Rudy Fernadez had 2 of the best dunks of the night..i think they had it in for him...
    it was funny to see all the black people shack there head at him saying to themselves : "White BOY!"
    w/e think he was underrateed and im curious what he had in store if he made it to the finals.
  21. Alfonso H M
    21. Posted by Alfonso H M Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:50 pm EDT

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    I can't believe Nate won again with the same dunk he won the last time. Where is the creativity in this dunk? You run, jump over a man standing there, and dunk the ball. How many times have we've seen this in previous years? By the looks of it Nate seems to put his hand on Howard's shoulders to push up and off of him so he can clear him and then make the dunk. Yes Nate has a very high jump but no creativity in his dunks. Someone got robbed, again.
  22. tupark82
    22. Posted by tupark82 Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:23 pm EDT

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    wat the hell was pau gasol thinking about throwing it behind his back? wat the hell was the point of that
  23. insomniacslounge
    23. Posted by insomniacslounge Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:41 pm EDT

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    The joke in #8 was guest written by Roger Clemens.

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