Not since 2001, when Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston participated in one of the better midwinter classics in recent years - a game that featured once and future Knickerbockers Anthony Mason, Stephon Marbury and Antonio McDyess - has a player from the Garden graced the NBA All-Star Game.
Until Sunday, when Knicks center David Lee will tread the boards for the Eastern Conference.
To keep with the '01 meme, a roster spot opened up for Lee because 2001 All-Star Game MVP Allen Iverson pulled out for family reasons. The last time Lee participated in a game during the All-Star break went 14 for 14 from the field and took home the MVP Award during the 2007 Rookies vs. Sophomores Game. While I don't think that he'll have that sort of result against the game's best this weekend, I do think he deserves to be there. Over Atlanta forward Josh Smith, the other contender for the opening.
Well, David Stern, the National Basketball Association and the fine folks at TNT have just the lubricant to ease your evening of romance: The NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Because nothing shows that special lady that you've been thinking about her like sitting down near a crackling fire space-heater with the finest bottle of Yellow Tail Merlot available at the Los Muchachos bodega on the corner to watch Dwight Howard defend his slam dunk championship against Nate Robinson, J.R. Smith and Rudy Fernandez.
Trust me, she'll just love the dunk when contestants are asked to team up with another person to execute a slam. That's when you lean in real close, kiss the nape of her neck and say in the deepest tone you can effectively pull off, "Baby, I just want you to know that if I were ever selected to participate in a contest of slam dunks that you would be my first choice of person to leap over. I just want you to know that, baby. Now and forever."
After that, she'll be all yours. Because the communication of those players and the intimacy they show and the way they share personal space will be like the next level that she wants to take your relationship. And, if somehow, someway that doesn't work then just recite this poem.
Rockets are red Knicks are blue Let's move to the bed I wanna dunk you
"... You are the only survivor of the planet Krypton. Even though you've been raised as a human, you are not one of them. You have great powers, only some of which you have as yet discovered."
Dwight "Supe" Howard is your 2008 Slam Dunk Champion. He leads the NBA in dunks so far this season and scored a perfect 50 on every dunk that he executed. He was "flying for real" according to Kenny Smith. Every dunk of Howard's was memorable and creative: there was the behind-the-glass-dunk, the Superman, the Volleyball and the Mini-Hoop. The only single-contest performance that even comes close to this is Vince Carter's from 2000. That comes close to this. But, for my money (and I did win a few bucks taking the 11-4 odds on Howard to win), this was a better performance. After all, Howard is almost seven-feet tall and a physical specimen the likes of which the dunk contest has never seen before. And, don't bring up Larry Nance, who was 6-10. He wasn't doing anything like this in 1984.
To go a step further, I actually think what Dwight did was more impressive than what the little guys (Nate and Spud) have done. To be that big and be able to hang and contort one's body like that is amazing. Like Superman.
And...
Gerald Green had a heck of contest too. He just picked the wrong year and ran into the Howard buzzsaw. The birthday cake thing was clever and would have been the biggest recipient of the Mutumbo face in most other years. Just not last night.
Karl Malone and Magic Johnson were both judges. Dr. J was the only one sitting between them and I'm going to imagine that this was not enough of a buffer zone for the Mailman. It was Malone who famously refused to play on the same court, or even in the same league, as an HIV-positive Magic. The cameras didn't catch them speaking to one another.
Jason Kapono won the 3-point shooting contest for the second time. Is he the next Craig Hodges? And, why did Miami let him go in the offseason?
Deron Williams won the skills competition, which I forgot about in my All-Star game preview. He beat Wade, Kidd (who now just looks hilarious in a Nets uniform), Nash and Chris Paul. Kidd dropped out because he couldn't hit the jump shot, which makes sense. Wade didn't last because the wheels just came off his bid, sort of like the season in South Beach. Fittingly, the Final Round was contested by Paul and Williams, who navigated the course perfectly. He won the competition and set a new record.
On Love:
