Superman beat by Kryptonite

Last night during the NBA All-star weekend in Phoenix, Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks beat Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic in the highly anticipated Slam Dunk Contest. Howard won the Slam Dunk contest last year by using a vast repertoire of amazing dunks and by wearing a Superman custom that won over the crowd. This year it was Robinson who was able to come up with unique dunks and get the crowd on his side. The last couple of years the fans vote on who wins the contest and it is important to get the crowd excited.

Robinson did just that by being the Kryptonite to Howard’s Superman. Both men moved on to the final round by using some impressive but not amazing dunks. However they were able to win over the judges and were able to beat Rudy Fernandez from Portland and J.R. Smith from Denver. Robinson came out for the final round dressed in a green Knicks jersey, green socks and shoes, and wearing a wrist band that had kryptonite on it. The most impressive dunk of the night was when Robinson (5’8”) dunked over Howard (6’10”).

Robinson won by receiving 52% of the fan votes but he should have won by a lot more. Howard was only able to come up with one unique dunk that got the crowd into it. His other dunks were very similar to the dunks he made last year. This was too much of a popularity contest and it was good the Robinson won because he had the better dunks. The big news after the contest was that next year Cleveland’s Lebron James will be in the dunk contest. Here is a link to the story and video on ESPN.