 Jon Brockman started out the dunk contest with two
solid, but not spectacular dunks. He made them
both, which allowed him to advance to the finals
due the majority of the participants missing at
least one dunk. Calvin (C.J.) Miles: C.J. missed
quite a few dunks on his first try. Finally after
a few attempts, got a nice two-handed dunk down
off of a lob. Again two solid dunks, but nothing
spectacular here. Julian Wright: Julian started
it off with a really different dunk that brought
the crowd to their feet. He did some sort of a
rock the cradle reverse dunk that was really impressive.
Like most of his fellow participants though, he
missed his second dunk, virtually giving himself
no chance at all to make the finals. Josh McRoberts:
The Indiana native had a very nice following at
the game, and after his first round of dunks,
you could see why they were following Mr. McRoberts.
Josh started off with a 360 windmill (a la Vince
Carter in the NBA 2000 dunk contest and Josh Smith
in the 2004 NBA dunk contest). He followed that
up with a between the legs dunk which assured
him a spot in the finals. Micah Downs: The Kansas
signee missed his first few windmill attempts,
but impressed the crowd with his leaping ability
for a player of his size. Downs finally got one
down, which drew a nice ovation from the crowd.
Like so many of his counterparts, Micah eliminated
himself from the finals by missing his second
dunk attempt. Amir Johnson: The 6'11 Louisville
recruit was quite possibly the most impressive
dunker in round one. Amir started it off by throwing
the ball very hard off of the glass and slamming
home a powerful windmill dunk. On his next attempt,
he ran from the three point line and slammed two
balls through the basket. After that duo of dunks,
Johnson guaranteed himself a spot in the finals.
Louis Williams: The player whom most thought would
win the dunk contest was extremely disappointing.
Louis started off by lobbing the ball high in
the air to himself and slamming it down hard with
one hand. While it was not a spectacular dunk,
it was very impressive for a 6'2 player. Williams
then tried to do a variety of dunks in which it
was clear that he was unable to do, missing them
all, and blocking himself from making the finals.
Gerald Green: By far the highest leaper of the
group, Gerald started off by throwing the ball
basically off of the top of the backboard and
throwing it down with two hands. His head was
nearly at rim level from my angle on this dunk.
He followed that with a dunk in which he lobbed
the ball to himself and then took off from about
a step inside of the free throw line and dunked
it with two hands. Green easily made the finals
after these two great dunks. Finals Jon Brockman:
Jon was only in the finals due to the fact that
he made both of his dunks in round one. Jon had
another two solid, but unspectacular dunks in
the finals. Brockman had a good strategy of going
for safe dunks that he could make and getting
the guaranteed points, but in the end, he just
didn't have enough flair to pull through. Gerald
Green: Gerald started off the finals in extraordinary
fashion: By putting his elbow in the rim and dunking
the ball! Gerald followed that up by throwing
the ball extremely high in the air and sending
it down. Gerald basically assured himself a place
in the championship after this dunk. Amir Johnson:
Amir started the finals off by missing a good
number of dunks, giving himself no chance of taking
home the crown. Amir did however legitimately
dunk from the foul line on his next dunk, showing
the great athleticism he possesses in his 6'11
frame. Josh McRoberts: Josh came out of the gates
with the same between the legs dunk he did in
the first round, but from a different angle this
time. The judges were not quite as thrilled this
time around, but still gave him a solid score.
For his next dunk, Josh flipped the ball around
his back and did a reverse dunk (a la David Lee
in the 2001 McDonald's dunk contest). These two
dunks actually gave him the exact same score as
Green, sending them to a one dunk dunk-off. Dunk-Off
Gerald Green: Gerald ended the dunk off immediately
with a lob to himself and between the legs dunk
in which his head was at rim level. It was an
absolutely amazing dunk that the crowd went bananas
about. He got a perfect score on this dunk, only
giving Josh McRoberts an opportunity to tie. Josh
McRoberts: Josh virtually had no chance of matching
Green's dunk, but he brought out a nice 360 statue
of liberty dunk ( a la Terrance Stansbury in the
NBA dunk contest in the 80's). Overall, the dunk
contest was decent, but not spectacular. |
