NBA All-star weekend 84-85 Slam Dunk Contest

Michael Jordan enters the Slam Dunk contest as a rookie. Checkout the red and black Air Jordan 1's and the (punk-like) gold-chains. I think people who criticise Allen Iverson because of his "corn-rows" and thick gold chains should take a closer look at Jordan when he was a rookie.

Anyone think that Jordan is a punk? Dunno, I suppose he's just trying to get some attention. And it worked, because the NBA fined him US$5000 for "those" shoes and All-Star veterans like Dr. J, Magic and Isiah thought Jordan had an attitude problem. Ah!! How time changes people's opinion and taste. Jordan has become the most GQ (ed) man in the NBA.

The 1984-85 Gatorade Slam-dunk comp was held at Indianapolis Market Square Arena during All-Star Saturday.
The contestants were :

Slam-dunk Contestants	Team	Height
Dominique Wilkins	Atlanta	6' 7 "
Clyde Drexler	Blazers	6' 7 "
Michael Jordan	Bulls	6' 6 "
Darrell Griffith	Utah	6' 4 "
Terence Stansbury	Indiana	6' 5 "
Orlando Woolridge	Bulls	6' 9 "

Larry Nance won the competition last year by beating Dr. J. These two qualify to the semi-final round.

Semi-final	Team	Height
Larry Nance	Phoenix	6' 10"
Julius Erving	Sixers	6' 10"

The rules of the dunk competition were :

1) Each competitor will attempt 3 dunks per round.
2) 2 replacement dunks per round.
3) 1 to 10 points can be scored per dunk
4) Maximum score is 50.
5) Competitors will have 24 sec to attempt each dunk
6) Judging is based on style, athletic ability and creativity.

Judges are :

1) Landon Turner Indiana       University star

2) Pistol Pete Marevich

3) Connie Hawkins

4) Dave Dupre USA       Basketball

5) John Andariese NBA      Commentator

RIGHT : Dr. J has the stylz and the afro, the funky dunks before anyone in the league, including Michael. "The Doctah" is a true pioneer of Jam-time basketball!!

Round 1

Event

Score

1) Dominique Wilkins drives from the right, pumps it up, pulls back between the legs and reverses on the other side

2) Clyde Drexlers from the right, turns and reverses with a two hand slam

3) Michael Jordan drives baseline from the right, "rocks the baby", swings the ball over and stuffs it with 2 hands in his black & red jumpsuit

5) Darrell Griffith from the right reverses with a one-handed rock-the-cradle.

5) Terence Stansbury from the top, elevates 2 feet inside the freethrow line for a 360 "statue of liberty" dunk.

6) Orlando Woolridge from the left with a reverse hammer dunk

1) Wilkins 360 one-handed hammer aka Stansbury but takes off closer to the rim

2) Michael Jordan from the top, 360, double clutch two-hand slam

3) Terence Stansbury bounces the ball, 360 spin, catches it and slams with two hands. Ball hit the rim on the way down.

A rare picture of MJ dunking in his warmups.

Many thought it was real gimmicky to be dunking in Nike Jumpsuit. But Jordan thought it was the perfect opportunity to promote Nike apparel and shoes.

Slam-dunk Contestants	Dunk 1	Dunk 2	Dunk 3	Total
Dominique Wilkins	47	49	49	145
Clyde Drexler	39	39	44	122
Michael Jordan	44	44	42	130
Darrell Griffith	38	42	46	126
Terence Stansbury	46	50	34	130
Orlando Woolridge	40	43	41	124

Click picture to download QT Movie

Sudden dunk-off between Terence Stansbury and Michael Jordan!!!

MJ's reach-back slam during the sudden-dunk-off against Terence Stansbury scored a 40.

Firstly, both contestants were put in the dunk-off because of a computer malfunction in the first round.

But a computer malfunction during the dunk-off led to the 5 judges deciding that both contestants should to go to the semi-finals.

(FYI Terence Stansbury was the actual winner of the dunk-offs)

Event

Score

1) Michael Jordan drives baseline from the right, one-handed swings the ball and reaches back for the slam.

2) Terence Stansbury from the right, rocks the ball and goes sideways for a clean reverse slam.

The judges decide to let both of them through to the semis...

So the 3 players advancing to the semi-finals are Dominique Wilkins (145 points), Michael Jordan (130 points) and Terence Stansbury (124 points).

Semi-final Round

Event	Score
1) Dominique from the left with a one-handed hammer dunk. Authoritative Jam. Remember Denver last year.	48
2) Julius Erving runs-up with two ball and stuff the right one followed by the left, No power	43
3) Terence Stansbury from the top, flips the ball under left arm, catches with two hands,brings it down and slams.	49
4) Larry Nance bounces the ball off the glass, catches with two hands and slams it from the other side.	42
5) Michael Jordan from the right baseline, misses a reverse one-hander. Attempts a one-handed double clutch reverse dunk again. Weak	45
Left : Dr J's weak 2-ball jam scored 43 points. Right : Dr J's famous freethrow slam scored a respectable 45 points. Last season at Denver, he had a 50 against Larry Nance (the eventual winner).
1) Dominique from the top with a sidewinder, two-handed between the legs reverse jam.	47
2) Julius Erving from the left, "statue-of-liberty" dunk which misses. Replacement dunk, goes half-court, runs up and does the freethrow line slam which he invented. Foot not right on the foul-line.	45
3) Terence Stansbury's fanclub (little bro and friends) telling him what they want to see. From the top, one-handed reverse miss, replacement dunk, from the top again, elevates and twirls the ball around, kicks out and slams.	39
4) Larry Nance
5) Michael Jordan infamous freethrow line slam. He places a tape on the foul-line indicating where he's going to take-off. Dribbles full court and elevates just inside the freethrow line!!! No intensity but pretty good.	50

"Freethrow"

Michael taped the foul-line prior to his dunk to mark where he's gonna takeoff. The man went to other side of the court and ran full court to do his deed.

It was his third dunk in the semis and it's a perfect 50

Click picture to download QT Movie

First introduced by Dr. J in the 1983 Slam Dunk Competition, Michael goes one step further by dribbling full court en route to a 50 in the semifinal round (dunk #3). After the dunk, MJ "high fived" Magic Johnson who was sitting behind the backboard (near the post). Michael is the only player who could pull it off with his awesome leaping ability.

Slam-dunk Contestants	Dunk 1	Dunk 2	Dunk 3	Total
Dominique Wilkins	48	45	47	140
Julius Erving	43	44	45	132
Terence Stansbury	49	48	39	136
Larry Nance	42	47	42	131
Michael Jordan	45	47	50	142

Michael Jordan (142 points) and Dominique Wilkins (140 points) go to the Final round of competition.

Championship Round

Dominique wins the coin toss and selects MJ to go first.

Event		Score
1) Michael Jordan drives left baseline, two-hand swings, holds the ball close to chest and slams it with two-hands.		43
2) Dominique from the right, backhand 2-handed reverse, puts up the ball, pumps and comes over the other side for a reverse slam.		47

1) Michael Jordan from the right, bounces the ball, elevates, but ball is a bit close to the rim, manages to grab it and put it in.		44
2) Wilkins bounces the ball on floor, ball hits the glass, he elevates and catches it with two hands for a reverse sidewinder slam		50


	Left : Michael's rock-the-cradle slam was awesome. It was his final dunk and scored a 49...


	1) MJ from the right, "rocks-the-cradle", locks the ball with his wrist, for a reverse one-handed slamma-jamma. Very COOL!	49
	2) Dominique from the top, swings the ball in a two-handed windmill, power dunks it with a kick in his legs. Awesome power!!!	50

Michael's last dunk was one of the more spectacular dunk of the night. ROCK-THE-CRADLE dunk was graceful.

MJ glided to the basket cradling the ball and rocking it. Then KABOOM, the explosion of ball and net. Poetry-in-motion

Click picture to download QT Movie

Slam-dunk Contestants	Dunk 1	Dunk 2	Dunk 3	Total
Dominique Wilkins	47	50	50	147
Michael Jordan	43	44	49	136

Dominique wins US$12,500 and receives the 1985 Gatorade Slam Dunk Champion trophy from Bill Schmidt, President of Gatorade.

Bill Russell & Rick Barry interviews MJ and Dominique after the prize presentation :

RB : ... A very exciting competition the Gatorade Slam-dunk championship and I don't know about you Bill but I'm jealous of these guys. First of all, why don't you talk to the first runner-up, Michael Jordan...

BR : Umm what I like about this Michael was that going into the last 2 competition, and you're down, and you come up with a 49, that shows me something.

MJ : Well, I think the whole thing is fun. Umm, just for me to participate err I think that was a good thing for me. Although my fellow North Carolinaan here, has won, I'm happy to see it staying in North Carolina.

BR : Alright, thanks a lot, I don't want to wish you good luck, cause it's better to be good than lucky..

RB : Heh! Heh! Terrific athlete and of course our champion Dominique Wilkins. Dominique, we talked last year, I really felt that the, you deserve to be in the finals last year. And you finally made it. How does it feel?

DW : Well that feels great last year. I felt like you said I should have been in the finals, but I was just having lot of fun. This year, I wanted to come up strong from start to finish, but had guys on the side telling me to do different things. I'm giving it everything I've got.

RB : Well you really getting up high. So why did you decide to go second in the finals.

DW : Well I wanted to see what Michael could do and if he would get a great score I would try to do something that really could top the score and really get the crowd really enthused.

RB : You telling me you had more than the... what you showed down here?!

DW : Well, I was trying.. [SMILING]

BR : Har! Har! Har! [LAUGHS]

RB : I know somebody's trying to wish you congratulations, a fellow that I know you know, our boss err Ted Turner. [LOOKS AT BILL AND DOMINIQUE] Your boss, all our boss..

TT : My boss!?

RB : What do you think about the whole competition?

TT : Well the whole thing has been terrific and the we're surrounded and honoured. TBS has been able to carry this great event. Have our hometown fans..

RB : We're glad of that too. How are things for the NBA and Turner Broadcasting?

TT : Well we're loving our association, and the... we hope to be with the NBA for a long, long time...

RB : So would I..

BR : Har! Har! Har!

RB : We'll be back with the final comments of the game. Congratulations to Dominique Wilkins, the winner of the Gatorade Slam-dunk Championship.