NBA All-Star Saturday Night: Grades for Blake Griffin All the Participants
The NBA’s Saturday Night portion of the All-Star Weekend was a huge success, thanks mostly to the Slam Dunk Contest, which was completely reinvented and was tooled more toward showmanship and excitement than pure athleticism.
The Skills Competition and Three-Point Shootout were also no slouch, as they offered a lot of excitement in their own right.
Paul Pierce was booed as mercilessly as any participant in an All-Star Weekend ever has when he was shooting in the shootout, and the Skills Competition did not fail to have excitement.
The Shooting Stars Competition was, as usual, the weak part of the night, and as I have begun to completely shun the event, I feel that it would be a waste of time to grade their participants.
Then there was the dunk contest.
I have heard the complaints that it has become too commercialized and I respond with a, “What do you expect?”
That is the NBA these days, and it probably isn’t going to change much with your complaints, so the best thing to do is take it for what it was, an extremely entertaining exhibition in which Serge Ibaka was robbed.
Each participant put on an absolute show Saturday night, and even though the voting was suspect, it was nothing short of amazing.
So, I would like to take a look at each of the other members of the night, and dish out a grade for each participant.
Skills Competition Participants
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There isn't much to analyze past the times of each competitor, so rather than giving them each a slide, I though I would keep it to one slide for the Skills Competition. (Hey, at least they got more than the Shooting Stars did.)
Stephen Curry—Curry had a quick start and seemed determined to win, but he struggled with the top of the key shot and the outlet pass on his first run, grabbing the second-best time of the first round at 34.1 seconds.
He came out in the second round and looked like a man who wanted to win. Every obstacle he completed on his first try, and he came out with a time of 28.2 seconds. Steph absolutely killed it. A+
Russell Westbrook—Westbrook hesitated off the line, but that was all that slowed him down initially. He posted a time of 30 seconds flat in the first round.
However, in the second round, Westbrook came out slow and a bit confused, as he started to run the wrong way through one set of pylons and missed the top of the key shot multiple times. B-
John Wall—In Wall's rookie attempt at the skills competition, he looked jumpy at best. Every time he passed the ball at one of the obstacles he would take a step forward as if he thought he had made it, costing him precious seconds. He posted a time of 39.3 seconds. D+
Derrick Rose—Rose looked good at the start, but after messing up on a few of the obstacles, he seemed to stop taking the competition seriously, and he posted a time of 35.7 seconds. D
Chris Paul—The only thing you need to know about Chris Paul's run is that he missed the opening layup. Really Chris? A layup?
He did try to make up for it as he motored through the rest of the competition, but it would have been impossible for him to make up the time. F+
Daniel "Boobie" Gibson, Cleveland Cavaliers
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Boobie was the one hope that the Cavs had of winning any type of trophy this season; unfortunately, he fell flat on his face.
Gibson's 25 shots were a microcosm of the Cavs season, as he missed huge chunks of shots at a time, and then didn't even make it through the whole final rack as time expired.
He finished the round with a measly seven points and promptly skulked back to the bench.
It seemed that the only reason for Gibson to be there was for Charles Barkley to make fun of the Cavs.
Chuck, who was rather grumpier than normal Saturday, used the Cavs as a whipping boy, and when Boobie finished his round, he remarked, "That's nearly as many points as the Cavs score in a quarter. Seven."
Thanks Chuck, pour it on.
Grade: F
Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
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The inclusion of Kevin Durant in the shootout kind of puzzled me, as there were many better shooters around the league left off the list.
Ever the optimist, I had convinced myself that he was a competitor and that he would bring it to this competition. I was wrong.
Kevin Durant absolutely bombed and finished with a worse score than Gibson did.
He made only four shots and finished with five points. Five. Measly. Points.
On top of that, he nearly airballed his final shot. Good work NBA, way to put the best shooters in the league in the three-point shootout.
Grade: D-
I cut him some slack because he isn't supposed to be a three-point shooter like Boobie.
Grade for the NBA for his inclusion: F-
Dorell Wright, Golden State Warriors
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Dorell Wright was another guy who was used as fodder for an ever-moody Charles Barkley.
Between his quips that shooting was the easiest part of the game and rebounding and defense are the hardest part, he continually berated the rest of the crew for saying Dorell Wright was giving Golden State fans something to cheer about.
"Golden State still has nothing to cheer about," he said, even as he picked Wright to win the competition.
Wright did decent in the competition, just missing the final round with 11 points, a score that would have been much better had he not missed seven in a row at one point.
Grade: C-
Ray Allen, Boston Celtics
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Ray Allen came in and seemed to be the favorite to win the competition, as he had just surpassed Reggie Miller as the all-time three-pointers-made leader.
During the 50 shots that Allen took, Miller quipped at least 48 times that Allen is a real shooter who shoots the same way every time he goes up.
He was also being cheered on by Kevin Garnett, who even during a friendly competition looked like he wanted to throw an elbow at James Jones.
Allen breezed through the first round with the most points and went for quality of the shots over quantity, as he didn't finish the final rack, but still scored 20 points.
He ended up struggling a bit in the second round, however, and finished with 14 points.
Grade: B-
Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics
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Paul Pierce came into a hostile arena as the defending champion and nearly pulled out another win in front of a booing crowd.
In true Paul Pierce fashion, he drained a buzzer beater at the end of the first round that put him ahead of Dorell Wright and into the finals. The crowed booed.
I can't remember anyone being booed as much as Pierce did on Saturday night at a three-point shootout, but he took it in stride and even fed off it.
His final round was good, but not quite good enough, as he finished with with 18 points.
All the while, Kevin Garnett stood by looking like an angry bouncer taking in a round of golf on his day off.
Grade: A-
James Jones, Miami Heat
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As much as it hurts me to give praise to anybody on the Heat...James Jones was impressive on Saturday night.
He looked as much like a pure shooter as anybody could.
He finished the first round in second place behind Ray Allen with 16 points, but was just getting warmed up.
Jones went off in the second round for 20 points, making four of the five money balls and four of his last five shots overall.
He put the pressure on Allen, who just couldn't come through in the clutch, and brought home the trophy to Miami.
Here's hoping that's the only title they get this year.
Grade: A
DeMar DeRozan, Toronto Raptors
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If you would have taken DeMar DeRozan's dunks, sent them back in a time machine to 2006 and put them in front of a crowd then, he would have won.
He would have thrived when the dunk contest was a bunch of guys trying to improve upon the uber-athletic dunks that Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter put up in the early 2000s, when they weren't dunking with props and gimmicks (not that there's anything wrong with that).
DeRozan came out with coach Darryl Dawkins, who was in a leopard print suit, looking as crazy as ever. (Quick side note: Dawkins is classic crazy, not Ron Artest crazy. If you would have told me before the contest that he would have come out in a leopard print suit, I would have asked if he pulled it off. If Ron Artest did, I would have asked if local authorities were trying to track a leopard missing from the San Diego Zoo.)
DeRozan's first dunk, the Eastbay Funk Remix, as named by Chocolate Thunder, famous for naming all of his dunks, was an off the back of the backboard alley-oop which he caught, threaded the ball between his legs, ducked under the backboard and slammed home.
Not exactly easy. For that he got a measly 44 points. Could you imagine the aneurysm that Kenny Smith would have if he saw that in 2001 instead of 2011?
His second dunk, the Show Stopper, saw him lob the ball in front of him, caught it as it bounced off the court, flew under the rim and slammed it home for a 50.
His final score for the first round was a 94.
Grade: B+
Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City Thunder
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Let me start out by saying that Serge officially got hosed last night.
The fact that he came in last place is a travesty, the fact that he didn't advance to the finals is a mockery. However, I am fine with that, because Blake Griffin put on a show in the finals for sure.
Ibaka's first dunk showed that Africa, the Congo specifically, can produce some of the best jumpers in the world (Which starts my official campaign to get Christian Skyenga in the 2012 Dunk Contest).
He started from the opposite end of the court, and everybody knew what was coming, but it brings down the house every time.
Sprinting down the court, Ibaka planted his toe directly on the free-throw line, took off and slammed it home. Farther than Jordan. Farther than Doc. 45 points.
My inner John McEnroe came out at this point. You cannot be serious! His toe was on the line!
His next dunk was just as nice, as he went up to dunk the ball, which was cradled in the crook of his elbow, he grabbed a stuffed animal with his teeth, turned his body completely around and slammed it home with all of his momentum taking him away from the hoop.
Another 45.
You may have not got the love from the judges last night Ibaka, but you will get it from me.
Grade: A
JaVale McGee, Washington Wizards
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McGee was my pick for this contest, and I wanted him to live up to the hype that I had created for him in nearly everyone I know.
His first two dunks didn't disappoint.
McGee's first attempt was a double dunk on two hoops with an alley-oop off one of the backboards thrown in for good measure. Perfect 50. Perfectly deserved.
His second dunk was nearly as impressive as the first and, as he was holding a basketball in each hand, John Wall lobbed a third up to him as he was in midair. He finished all three balls, slamming each of them home; that's a six-point play, right? This one got him a 49.
In the second round his creativity seemed to go away, as he instead paid homage to Michael Jordan in his first dunk.
McGee ran along the baseline and did Jordan's "Rock-the-cradle" dunk. While in mid-air, McGee had to avoid a major concussion, as about a foot of himself was in the line of fire of the backboard. With his head completely crooked sideways, and all of his momentum taking him in the opposite direction, he slammed home the ball with his long, lanky, noodle arms.
His second dunk of the final round came after Griffin's Kia Dunk, and he seemed to be at a loss. He wanted to do the free-throw line dunk, I'm positive of that, but he didn't want to duplicate Ibaka, so he threw down a forgettable dunk and walked away. He knew he was done.
Although his best dunk came first, and they progressively got worse, they were never bad dunks, and two of them were things we had never seen before.
For the sake of his creativity and competitiveness I hope that he comes back next year. He'll dunk over an airplane, I'm almost sure of it.
Grade: A+
Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers
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For a single night, everybody in LA was a Clippers fan. For most of them that's the most time they have spent cheering on any Clippers team ever. Maybe Blake Griffin will get a few more of them on the bandwagon.
Blake first showed off his skill as the straight man in a comedy duo and his absolute dead-pan face, which was amazing.
To the question, "What has Kenny Smith done to help you?" he responded with an absolute stone face, "Kenny hasn't really helped me at all."
His first dunk was a 360 that he brought back by his ear and slammed home with a unique combination of skill, power and finesse for a 49.
It took him a few attempts to get this one home because he was jumping too high. Think about that for a second. He jumped too high. I honestly thought he was going to hit his head on the rim and concuss himself.
"He might die tonight," I thought multiple times.
His second dunk he took an alley-oop off the side of the backboard from Baron Davis (who has lost any ability to pass that he once had) and windmilled it home powerfully for a 46.
Blake's first two dunks were not better than Ibaka's, that is nearly not debatable, but he advanced nonetheless, much to the joy of the viewers.
Griffin's first dunk of the second round was the now-classic Vince Carter Honey-Dipper, in which he hung from the rim from his elbow. Blake showed a trickle of blood from his elbow after the dunk, at which point you could literally hear Clippers Owner Donald Sterling grinding his teeth.
Then there was his final dunk.
Complete with a gospel choir singing "I Believe I Can Fly" in the background, Blake Griffin took off over the hood of a brand new Kia as Baron Davis passed the ball through the sunroof to the young star, who caught it and dunked it home on the first try.
In the course of his four dunks, I thought Griffin was going to end up with a concussion, a torn rotator cuff and a broken leg, so yea, I'd say that he put his full effort into it. Yet many are still complaining.
Yes it is true, maybe Blake shouldn't have been in the final round, but he was there, and he was the better of the two dunkers then.
Any way you slice it, at least for the time being, the dunk contest is back, and I can't wait until next year.
Grade: A+
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