slam dunk contest

The Slam Dunk Contest is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) competition held during the NBA All-Star Weekend. The contest was inaugurated by the American Basketball Association (ABA) at its All-Star Game in 1976 in Denver, just as the slam dunk was legalized in the NCAA. It enabled players to showcase their dunking skills and try to "out-dunk" each other. However, this contest would be short-lived as the ABA-NBA merger took place later that year. Realizing the popularity of slam dunks, the NBA soon created a contest of its own, which made its first appearance in 1984. The contest currently uses fan voting, via text-messaging, to determine the winner. The current sponsor of the event is Sprite, an American soft-drink.

The very first slam dunk contest was won by Julius Erving at the 1976 ABA All-Star Game. The current champion of the NBA Dunk Contest is Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks. Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 1980s 1.2 1990s 1.3 2000s 2 Past NBA Slam Dunk Contest champions 3 All-time participants 4 All-time results 4.1 1980s 4.2 1990s 4.3 2000s 5 Famous non-NBA Slam Dunk Contests 6 Types of moves seen during the Slam Dunk Contest 6.1 Windmill 6.2 360 6.3 Free throw line 6.4 Between the legs 6.5 Double clutch 6.6 Rock the cradle 6.7 Off the backboard 6.8 Blind dunk 6.9 Behind the Back 7 Notable dunks 8 More info 9 External links 10 References //

History

1980s

The NBA reintroduced the Slam Dunk Contest in 1984 at its birthplace in Denver. Erving's dunk from the free throw line that year remains one of the most memorable slam dunks in NBA history. Dominique Wilkins won the contest the following year, but in 1986 his Atlanta Hawks teammate Spud Webb made history when he defeated Wilkins in the final, preventing him from retaining his title. Standing a mere 5 feet 7 inches tall, Webb became the shortest player ever to win the contest, a distinction that he holds to this day. As the eighties came to a close, Chicago's Michael Jordan established himself as perhaps the greatest dunker of all time, after an epic battle with Wilkins to win his second of back-to-back dunk contest victories in 1987 and 1988.

1990s

The Slam Dunk Contest had always been a big hit with fans, but interest in the contest began to wane in the mid-1990s. Initially, it was due to the fact that many players lost interest in competing; some cited concerns of injuries, while others felt that the full repertoire of humanly-possible dunks had already been exhausted. With most of the superstars choosing not to participate, lesser-known players began to compete, leading to watered-down competitions. Fans complained that players were beginning to win contests with boring or unoriginal dunks (witness the relatively forgettable early-90s wins by the likes of Harold