Krypto-Nate Robinson Wins 2009 Slam Dunk Title With Authority

Okay, let's just be honest here.  Nate Robinson may not have fully deserved the 2006 NBA Slam Dunk Contest Title, but he sure earned it this year.  Nate battled the defending champion, Dwight Howard, in the Finals and one-upped the ultimate gamesman in the end.  Together they put on possibly the greatest show in the history of the contest since the days of Michael Jordan battling Dominique Wilkins.

There's one thing from the first round that didn't sit right with me.  Dwight's extremely overrated '12-foot Rim' Dunk drew a perfect 50 from the judges, and I can't fully understand why.  Dwight Howard is a 7-foot man.  His wingspan is greater than 7 feet long.  From the floor that he's standing on to the tips of his outstretched fingers, he can stand and reach a healthy 9-feet, 5-inches into the sky.  So dunking on a 12-foot rim is only jumping 2.5 feet in the air.  

In comparison, the 5-foot, 7-inch Robinson must also jump approximately the same 2.5 feet to dunk on the standard 10-foot rim.  However, what made Dwight's 12-footer so overrated is the fact that he took off with his arms stretched upward, caught the ball and weakly put it in the hoop in one motion.  On the flip side, Nate caught the ball off a bounce, brought the ball down between his legs, and did a reverse jam all while rotating 90 degrees.  And that's why Nate's performance was better.

But the entire Superman vs. Lex Luther Krypto-Nate was brilliant.  For the second straight year, Howard busted out his tiny skin-tight jersey and his red Superman cape and this time even changed in a phone booth.  Being the creative little fella that he is, Nate countered Dwight with his green St. Patrick's Day Knicks uniform and kryptonite-colored shoes and armband.  

Nate's started off the Finals with the aformentioned reverse slam between the legs.  But then Dwight's first dunk of the Finals turned out to likely be one of the best in contest history.  He bounced it off the side of the backboard, grabbed it one-armed behind his back in mid-air, and slammed it down with utmost violence.  It was awesome. 

But the second he agreed to let Nate jump over his own human body for Nate's final dunk, he must have known he was finished.  Nate completed the feat by soaring over the 7-footer and stuffing a neon green basketball into the hoop.  At that point, it was over.  It didn't matter what Howard had up his sleeve, which turned out to be nothing.

All in all, it was a great event - the best dunk contest dual in decades, and was by far the highlight of the entire All-Star Weekend.