Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard opined "I think the dunk contest is back," and with his performance on Saturday night there isn't much room for debate. The 6'11" Howard became the tallest player to win the NBA Dunk Contest, and with the help of teammate Jameer Nelson and various props, wowed the All Star crowd in New Orleans with fresh dunk after fresh dunk.After not making it out of the 1st round in last year's contest despite his awesome "Sticker Dunk," Howard was out for revenge and got out of the gates fast this year, totally owning the crowd and the judges from the get go. Howard scored a perfect 50 with the judges on his first two dunks, and then went on to be crowned the champion in the finals, as he received 78% of the fans votes, compared to 22% for runner up Gerald Green. Green once again displayed his creativity and athleticism that brought him last year's crown, but there was no one who could compete with Howard's dunks this year, which as a group, were arguably the greatest for any single year of the competition.
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There were a number of innovative and entertaining dunks throughout the contest, but here's a quick breakdown of the most memorable ones, in the order of their degree of difficulty/originality/sickness:
1) In an ode to the ridiculous Allen Iverson to Andre Iguodala dunk from 2006, Howard tossed the ball off the backside of the backboard, to himself, caught it in midair, went underneath the backboard, then windmilled it through the basket with his left hand, while his head was still on the other side of the backboard.
2) Timberwolves teammate Rashad McCants set a cupcake on the heel of the rim, lit a single candle on top of it, and then last year's winner Gerald Green took off from the baseline, blew out the candle in mid air and then threw down a nasty two handed jam.
3) Howard bounced the ball high off the ground to alley oop it to himself, then after the bounce and all in mid flight, Howard bounced the ball off the backboard with his outstretched left hand, then grabbed the ball with his right hand and slammed it through one handed.
4) Catching an over the backboard bounce pass from teammate Rashad McCants in mid-air, Green took flight from the left side and did the classic put the ball through the legs before bringing it up for the dunk, but this was all off the pass.
5) Toronto Raptor Jamario Moon bounced it off the floor to alley oop it to himself, then grabbed it with his right hand in the air and did a full 360 before slamming it through with one hand.
6) Orlando teammate Jameer Nelson brought out a red Superman cape, then Dwight Howard stripped off his jersey to reveal a Superman shirt, Nelson tied the cape around Howard, who then got a running start and took off from just inside the free throw line and skied so high above the rim that he literally threw the ball violently through the rim without even touching the metal.
7) Memphis teammate Kyle Lowry took a running start from the left baseline, threw the basketball off the side of the basket support (the 'stanchion'), then Rudy Gay (running after Lowry) caught the ball in mid air and slammed it with his right hand.
8) Orlando teammate Jameer Nelson affixed a little Orlando Magic toy hoop and backboard on the normal backboard, and rested the ball on the miniature hoop. Howard took off from the right side, grabbed the ball from the mini hoop, then slammed it home through the normal basket, bringing roars of approval from the standing crowd.
Check out videos of all of these and more on the NBA's official site here, and judge for yourself what was the best. At least for 2008, the NBA Dunk Contest was off the hook and truly 'back' in memorable fashion.
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