posted February 18, 2008 at 19:43 in Other Articles

The Eastern Conference avenged last years 153-132 trouncing in Vegas by taking last nights game by a 134-128 final count, big man Dwight Howard/Superman won the Slam Dunk contest, Jason Kapono defended his 3-point title from a year ago, and the Sophomores took it to the Rookies once again. That was NBA All Star weekend in a nutshell for those that missed out.

Now, my question to you is do you even care? Did you tune in to any of the festivities? Personally, I haven’t watched a Slam Dunk competition for a number of years, and I wasn’t even aware that Kapono was still in the league to defend his 3-point title. Of course I’m kidding about that last statement, but the competition doesn’t hold nearly the amount of luster it once did when Larry Bird, Craig Hodges, and Mark Price won the competition in 8 of the competitions first nine years of existence. The Slam Dunk contest hasn’t been the same since the days of ‘Nique and Jordan, but there have been some spectacular efforts since the glory days. The last competition I took in was back in 2000 when Vince Carter put on a show for the folks in Oakland. His power slam capped off with him hanging on the rim with his forearm was one of the sweetest throw downs I’ve ever seen. Since then, we’ve seen guys dunk over chairs, people, blindfolded, with partners, and yadda yadda yadda. None of that compares to MJ’s leap from the charity stripe, or Dominique’s unbelievable windmill jams. Nate Robinson was very spud-like a couple years ago, but even that didn’t compare to Webb’s masterful effort back in 1986. Maybe it was the fact that we’d already seen that story take place on the court in this capacity, or maybe we’ve just become so used to seeing what these guys can bring that repeat performances are already yesterday’s news.

Whatever the case may be, Dwight Howard’s performance on Saturday night might just have been the remedy needed to get everybody back up for what had been one of the most highly anticipated events of the sporting year. For one, he did it with style. He will forever be known as the guy that dawned the Superman outfit in the SD contest and threw it down so hard that seismic activity was recorded in the spot the ball slammed into the hardwood. Second, he came up with some new material. The reverse backboard dunk had never been done before, and it was sweet to see a man of his stature be able to pull it off. Finally, the man plays center in the NBA betting and he indicates a changing of the guard at that position. Gone are the slow lumbering big men that can back you into the blocks and convert with hook shots and finger rolls. Now, they’re backing you up and slamming the ball down your throat off the backboard, or they’re running the court and forcing their opponents to completely change their style of play. Big Dwight has a gleaming future ahead of him, and is most definitely the founding father of the new aged center roaming the courts of the association today.

The weekend was a great success for the NBA and for the city of New Orleans. The East won the big game taking some fuel out of the fire from those that believe there’s no point in playing the Finals since the Western Conference is head and shoulders above anything the East has to offer. If you actually do believe that after the first halves Boston and Detroit put together you’re insane, but that’s why they play the games. Dwight Howard made the Slam Dunk contest interesting again, and Jason Kapono now has a chance at pulling off the 3-peat next season and become just the third player ever to do so (Bird/Hodges) after taking home the hardware in back-to-back years. I don’t know about you, but I will make it a point to tune to TNT for next years festivities so my only intake of the highlights aren’t on Sportscenter…

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