Andrea Adelson
From the Press Box.
Dwight Howard made it a wonderful weekend to be from Orlando. The Magic big man set the sports world talking with his jaw-dropping performance during the NBA’s slam-dunk competition. and that talk kept going well into Monday.
He was the lead topic during the ESPN Radio show Mike & Mike in the Morning. Hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic were the latest to roundly praise Howard for his creativity and athleticism. reiterating he has re-energized the slam-dunk contest while mentioning past champions who used brilliant ideas to make the dunks must-see TV.
Guys such as Dee Brown. who pumped up his shoes before unleashing a thunderous dunk during all-star weekend in 1991. So that got me thinking. Why not call Brown and see what he thought of Howard. and whether he thinks the Magic man has brought the slam-dunk contest back from the dead?
”Everything he did was great.” said Brown. who runs The Edge. a basketball training facility in southwest Orlando.
Brown helped Howard before the dunk contest last season. After Howard lost in the first round. failing to show off his kiss-the-rim dunk. Brown called him with some advice.
”I told him. ‘You get your wildest dunks from the beginning. Don’t wait until the finals.’ ” Brown said. “You’ve got four dunks; all four have to got be spectacular because you never know what the guys have in front of you.”
Looks like the advice paid off. Howard’s first dunk. where he bounced the ball off the back of the backboard and slammed it home. got a perfect score. He also did his now-famous Superman dunk in the first round.
Having someone as high-profile as Howard in the contest definitely helps and gave the entire contest an awesome feeling of energy. But perhaps most important. Howard was just having fun out there — and that made the competition fresh and exciting.
That was missing from past dunk contests when no-name guys seemed to do the same boring dunks. Gerald Green (his blow-out-the-candle-on-the-cupcake was my favorite) and Howard have come up with great ideas over the last two years to make the dunk contest relevant again.
”It’s got the pizzazz back.” Brown said. “Before. people were like. ‘The 3-point contest is marquee.’ Yeah. that is a great skills competition. but nothing brings excitement like a dunk.”
So be proud. Orlando. Enjoy all the excitement.
dwight howard SHOULD be a worlds #1 slam-dunk champion! you saw him act as superman,now your going to see him act as spiderman. Orlando is So lucky to have a slam dunk champion such as THE great dwight howard.
-advith sarikonda
i agree with you