Since the founding of the NBA league, only two players have nicknamed "God", one is the first person in NBA history, the basketball god Flyer Jordan, and the other is today's protagonist - "Half-Man, Half-God" Vince Carter.
As one of the four quarterbacks, Vince Carter, dunk is his most prominent and eye-catching feature, even the basketball god Jordan is inferior to Carter in terms of dunking, and Carter's legend in the dunk industry has always been talked about by fans.
A battle to save the NBA slam dunk contest
The dunk contest is an important part of the NBA All-Star Weekend, since the establishment of the dunk contest in 1984, the dunk contest has been the most concerned game for fans in addition to the All-Star game, from the beginning of its establishment to 1997, the excitement of the dunk contest has been very guaranteed, and the dunk contest has participated in the dunk contest Jordan, the glider Drexler, the essence of human movies Dominique Wilkins and other dunk players, they have presented wonderful dunk performances for fans.
But in 1997, there was the most shameful slam dunk contest in NBA history. The contestants in this year's slam dunk contest are either unknown rookie players or mediocre physical players on the team's fringe. In the slam dunk contest, their performance did not make a single wave among the fans, and the performance of the players was lackluster in both the preliminaries and the finals. Although in the end, the young Kobe Bryant won the championship of the slam dunk contest, but he was only taller among the short. The popularity of the slam dunk contest was at an all-time low.
At the '98 All-Star Game, the three-point contest ended with a traditional slam dunk contest instead of a fun event called the "2ball" challenge, which was the first time since the inception that the dunk contest did not appear in All-Star Weekend.
Due to labor disputes, the NBA had a long shutdown in the '98-99 season, and it was not until the end of January '99 that the shutdown finally ended, and in order to save the NBA's dismal ratings, David Stern, then the president of the NBA, decided to use a dunk to keep the fans again.
In the millennium, the slam dunk contest was once again on the stage of All-Star Weekend, and the players who participated in this slam dunk contest can be described as talented, whether it is the Carter Maddy cousins or Francis and Stackhouse, all of whom have put on extraordinary dunk performances in the regular season, their dunks are either flowing or violent, full of creativity. Fans are full of expectations for this slam dunk contest.
At the beginning of the game, everyone was eager to try. In the preliminaries, Maddie and Francis and other spring people staged creative dunks one after another, which completely ignited the atmosphere of the scene, and when Carter made a 360° windmill dunk, the atmosphere of the scene reached its peak directly, the judges on the sidelines did not hesitate to raise the 10-point score card in their hands, and O'Neal Garnett and others who watched the game on the sidelines were shocked by Carter's dehumanizing dunk, O'Neal was like seeing an alien with an incredible face, and the commentator of the dunk contest was even more " Announce the end of the slam dunk contest in advance".
This is not over, just the preliminaries, Carter's three dunks carefully prepared for the fans are all amazing, not only the first dunk makes the fans addicted, but the second dunk on the back of the board dunk or the third dunk of the crotch change of hands windmill is definitely a rare existence in the dunk contest.
In the finals, although Maddie and Francis's dunks were still impeccable, Carter's dunk with a small arm hanging from the basket and a leaping dunk one step before the free throw line directly locked the championship of the dunk contest in one fell swoop.
In fact, Maddie and Francis's dunks are already very exciting, and they may win the championship in any other slam dunk contest, but not this year, because of Carter's existence, they can only look up to Carter's unparalleled dunk off the court.
With the end of this slam dunk contest, I believe that there will never be a lack of slam dunk contest in the future, because fans never know if there will be another Carter, and whether there will be a more magical dunk than Carter.
The buckle of the century, completely destroying the psychological defense line of the French center
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Carter was drafted to the American Dream Team. In the group stage between the United States and France, there was a scene that stunned the world. In the middle of the second quarter of the game, the French team made a mistake when organizing a fast break, Carter quickly intercepted the ball and quickly counterattacked, facing the French 2.18 meter center Weiss who stood under the basket and was ready to make an offensive foul, Carter simply didn't do anything, and jumped directly to attack the frame, and Wes may be killed and don't believe that Carter would make such a heartbreaking move, but it was too late, between the lightning and the flint, Carter leaped over Weiss and smashed the basketball into the basket.
After completing this dunk, Carter was already full of blood and excitement, constantly showing his muscles to the world to express his inner excitement and excitement. Teammate Garnett watched Carter's dunk up close under the basket and hugged Carter tightly to express his inner explosion.
And the background board Wes experienced this dunk himself, but he couldn't come back to his senses, he stood in place in a daze, as if he had lost his soul. At the end of the game, the United States easily defeated the French team, but no one paid attention to the outcome of this game, and fans have been immersed in Carter's "dunk of the century" for a long time.
Later, it was rumored that Wes was never able to get rid of the psychological shadow because of this dunk, and finally chose to retire. However, this rumor is a bit exaggerated, although Wes was indeed ridiculed by fans after being blocked, and the road to basketball became more bumpy, but Wes did not retire because of this, but played until his son was diagnosed with autism He was depressed and had the idea of retiring.
In order to complete Jordan, the three-time All-Star ticket king gave up the starting position
The 2003 All-Star was Jordan's last All-Star trip, and for this reason, many of Jordan's little fans hoped that Jordan could have a perfect All-Star trip. But after the All-Star voting results came out, Jordan did not enter the starter, and the Western All-Star starting backcourt was this All-Star vote king Kobe and Iverson, Iverson quickly took the initiative to find Jordan after learning the news and said that he was willing to give up the All-Star starting position, but Jordan, as a senior, declined Iverson's kindness.
However, at the beginning of the All-Star Game, what fans saw was Jordan appearing in the starting lineup, while Vince Carter, the former three-time All-Star vote champion and the starter of this year's All-Star Vote, was watching all this from the court, which made fans feel inexplicable.
It turned out that before that All-Star Game, Carter only played 14 games due to injury, and the number of games and data were not enough to meet the standard of All-Star starters, but because Carter's dunk has long been sealed in the hearts of fans, even if Carter does not meet the starting requirements, he was still selected into the starting lineup.
Regarding Carter's "special case", the big-mouthed Barkley hinted before the All-Star Game that Carter should give up his starting position, and he believes that the All-Star lineup should not be determined solely by fan preferences, and such an All-Star has become a popularity contest, not a ball skill contest.
And Isaiah Thomas, the head coach of the Western Conference All-Star and Jordan's biggest rival, also said before the game that Jordan should never be just a substitute in the All-Star Game.
Whether it's Barkley or Thomas, they are explicitly or implicitly expressing their intention to let Carter give up the starting position, but Carter doesn't buy it, he thinks he has a chance to be a great player like Jordan, and he doesn't want to give up this starting opportunity.
But before the All-Star Game, Carter did not take off his training clothes, but gave this chance to start to the legendary old-timer, in fact, Carter also admired and respected Jordan very much in his heart, but when so many people asked him to give up the starting position, he also had a rebellious mentality, but in the end, his respect for Jordan defeated his own rebellious mentality.
epilogue
As one of the four quartiles, Carter has had many people question Carter's ability, maybe Carter's ability to lead the team is indeed inferior to the other three, but Carter's dunk level is definitely above the other three.
Carter's dunk is full of violent aesthetics, and Carter's dunk is unique in terms of height, stretch, and creativity. If you have to make a summary of Carter's dunks, there are two kinds of dunks in the world, one is called Carter and the other is called other.