1987-88 Gatorade Slam Dunk Competition

The 1987-88 Gatorade Slam-dunk comp was held at the Chicago Stadium during All-Star Saturday The contestants were :

Slam-dunk Contestants	Team	Height	Weight	Age	Season
Otis Smith	Warriors	6' 5 "	210 lbs	24	2
Jerome Kersey	Blazers	6' 7 "	222 lbs	25	4
Spud Webb	Hawks	5' 7" (Shortest contestant)	135 lbs	24	3
Greg Anderson	Spurs	6' 10 "(Tallest contestant)			Rookie
Michael Jordan	Bulls	6' 6"	198 lbs	24	4
Clyde Drexler	Blazers	6' 7 "	215 lbs	25	5
Dominique Wilkins	Hawks	6' 7 "	200 lbs	28	6
Ron Harper	Cavaliers	6' 6 " Withdrew from competition due to foot injury	198 lbs	24	2

The rules of the dunk competition were :

1) 2 dunks for the 1st round.
2) 3 dunks for the Semifinal round.
3) 3 dunks for the Championship round.
4) Competitors can replace 1 dunk per round.
5) 0-10 points can be scored per dunk. Maximum total score is 50.
6) Judging is based on style, athletic ability and creativity.

There are 5 judges in the competition. Each giving a score out of 10.

Michael's third dunk in the semis scored a 47 The judges are :

i ) Gale Sayers Chicago Bears Youngest inductee (34yo) to the Pro-Football Hall of Fame 1977.

ii) Johnny Green 14 seasons in the NBA. Jumpin' Johnny Green scored 8pts in today's Legends Game.

iii) Gail Goodrich 14 seasons in the NBA. 5 times NBA All-Star, a member of the 1972 LA Lakers Championship team. Scored 3pts in the Legends Game.

iv) Tom Hawkins. The Hawk played 10 seasons in NBA for the Lakers and Royals. He's a 2-time All-American.

v) Randy Smith 2 time All-Star. Drafted in the 7th round by the 1971 Buffalo Braves.

Round 1

Event

Score

1) Otis Smith from the right, goes underneath the basket, a double clutch, one handed, 180 degree spin in the air slam, a little tentative.. caught the rim on it

2) Jerome Kersey drives from the right, rocks it right to left, behind the back, two handed reverse dunk overhead. Throws it through with power!! Relatively small hands.

3) Spud Webb drives from the right, switches hands and misses the dunk. Knee surgery last year made him lose a bit of leaping ability. Replacement dunk is very conservative. He came from the right hand side, front-on to the rim,elevates for two handed slam. Weak slam...

4) Greg Anderson drives from the left, bounces the ball off the glass, catches it in the air with two hands and throws it with authority!

5) Michael Jordan drives from the left, two-handed inside out, kick legs out, tomahawk dunk with right hand.

6) Clyde Drexler goes front-on, windmills, gets the legs up and slams.

7) Dominique Wilkins. Drives along the right baseline, spread legs out, puts ball between legs, explodes with reverse two-hander power windmill jam. (Trivia: Dominique first dunk was in 9th Grade and he was 5' 8" tall.)

1) Otis Smith drives straight in the key, 360 spin, two-handed hammer over the top. (Trivia: Drafted by Denver and traded to Golden State)

2) Jerome Kersey. Drives from the right, rocks right to left and dunks with his left.

3) Spud Webb tosses the ball high in the air, it bounces near the edge of the glass, couldn't handle the ball (a bit close to the support) and missed the dunk. No replacement dunk available!!! Problems with knee.

4) Greg Anderson drives from the right, , rocks the ball right to left, extends right hand underneath the basket but ball hits the bottom edge of the glass and missed the dunk. Repeats the move with his replacement dunk. Scores 34 points.

5) Michael Jordan from the right, double clutch, spreads the legs and two-handed behind the head stuff. Beautiful!!!

Nice two-handed reverse from MJ.

Whammm...

Click picture to download QT Movie

6) Clyde Drexler drives left baseline, sideways to basket, tucked legs in.

7) Dominique Wilkins, from the front, 360 spin explosion and throws it in with authority!!!

4 players advancing to the semi-finals were :

Dominique Wilkins (96 points),

Michael Jordan (94 points),

Clyde Drexler (88 points) and

Otis Smith (87 points).

Semi-final Round

"Freethrow"

Michael did a double clutch when he pull this one out of his bag of magic tricks.

YOOO MAMMAA!

Click picture to download QT Movie

Event	Score
1) Michael Jordan infamous freethrow line slam. 5 dribbles full court and elevates just inside the freethrow line!!! Similar to his 1987 slam. MISSION CONTROL READY FOR LAUNCH	50
2) Otis Smith from the right, rim behind his head, reverses but missed the dunk. Replaces dunk by throwing ball off the glass, errand throw, but manages to catch it high with his right hand and slams it...	45
3) Clyde Drexler attempts freethrow dunk (no full court dribble) misses the first dunk. Gets a replacement dunk. Repeats dunk but no "electricity". Poor.	45
4) Dominique Wilkins from the front, windmills and bring it real low and explodes.	49

1) Michael Jordan from the left, CHINESE SUPERMAN dunk aka "kiss the rim" turns sideways, small windmill, extends arm, for a one-hand tremendous jam!!!	48
2) Otis. Drives from the right, reverse two hand, misses. Almost took the rim down. (Trivia : The collapsible basketball units have springs designed to withstand 230 lbs of pressure). No replacement dunk available. Poor man...	22
3) Clyde Drexler drives right towards baseline, hesitates and stop!!! Crowd booooo's. Clyde was a little humiliated. Attempts from the left side, banks the ball off from the left and catches it with two hands from the right side and dunks.	42
4) Dominique goes from the right side, does a 360, two handed power slammmm...	47

1) Michael Jordan from the right, one hand clutch, low "rock the baby" under the basket to the other side, reverses but missed. Replaced the dunk by repeating the move. Head was in the net, went past the hoop and reverses it. Awesoommmmeee!!! RIGHT : MJ checks out the paint job on the rim. The rim might need some touch-up after the beating MJ had given it. BELOW : Jordan emerges on the other side to finish it with an overhead stuff. POETRY-IN-MOTION	47

2) Otis Smith from the front, a 360 slam. Basic move..	42
3) Clyde Drexler from the right, 360 barely makes the basket. Weak slam. He was spinning opposite of his body's normal motion. Pulled his back muscles slightly.	46
4) Wilkins drives along the right baseline, puts the ball in front of the rim, pulls it back and finishes on the left side with a two hand clutch reverse dunk.	47

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD QUICKTIME MOVIE 1000kB

The infamous freethrow dunk. You've seen the posters. First introduced by Dr. J (Julius Erving) in the 1985 Slam Dunk Competition, Michael goes one step further by dribbling full court en route to a 50 in the semifinal round (dunk #1). Dr. J didn't dribble the ball when he did it...

Tremendous "Kiss the rim" dunk sequence from Michael. Gatorade score 48 of 50 in semifinals(dunk#2).

Advancing to the Championship round are Michael Jordan (145 points) and Dominique Wilkins (143 points).

Championship Round

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

Event	Score
1) Dominique from the top, bounces ball high in front of the board, catches it with two hands and slams with the right, little pump windmill dunk.	50
2) Michael Jordan drives left, 2 handed double clutch "kiss the rim". Kicks legs in the air and throws it in. You beauty!!!@	50
Wilkin's "throw-against-backboard and catch-with-two-hands" followed by powerful one-handed hammer slam scored a perfect 50 which put a lot of pressure on Jordan. Windmill after windmill after windmill. That's all 'Nique can do but I'd like to see him do a "freethrow slam". I'd like to see him double-pump it while coasting through the air like His Airness.
1) Dominique goes along the right baseline and windmills it with power. Nice and neat.	50
2) MJ under pressure. Drives from the right, figure of 8, double clutch, 2 handed spinning dunk. Nice but not tidy. Crowd boos at judges over the points. The judges might need the National Guard to escort them out of Chicago Stadium.	47

1) Dominique drives from the left, a two-handed windmill, not as clean as his second dunk. Conservative dunk. Home crowd does not like it. Dominique looks real worried...	45
2) Michael Jordan needs 49 to win, 48 to tie (for a dunk-off). Thinks for 6 seconds about what to do. MJ is under pressure. Looks at the crowd, Dr. J points to the other side of the court. Freethrow line dunk. MJ drives and double clutches but clangs it on the back of the rim. Lucky still has replacement dunk. Tries it again. Double clutches, even better looking and more power... Aggressive followthrough. What a classic confrontation. Dominique facial expression = disappointment	50

Left :
This is MJ's world-famous freethrow line dunk

(MJ's first dunk in the Semi-final round of the Slam Dunk Championship)

Scores a perfect 50!!

Michael is the 1988 Gatorade Slam Dunk Champion with 147 points.

Runner-up is Dominique, with 145 points.

MJ wins US$12,500, Dominique US$7,500, Clyde US$5,500, Otis US$2,500 and the other contestants US$1,000.

Craig Sager interviews MJ after the prize presentation :

CS : ... Good question, Dominique's back to back 50s ?

MJ : Well that put a lot of pressure on me. I don't know exactly what to do. I mean and 50s are hard to come by and you have to do something as unique as he did to get a 50, and I guess I didn't do something as unique.

CS : What about his 45? What would you have given him?

MJ : I would probably give him something close to a 50 but the judging is so tough, you gotta look at the standard of dunks and measure what is a 50 and what is a 45 and that type of a thing... and the.. I thought he had higher than a 45. When he did get a 45, I thought I had a chance.

CS : The home crowd advantage is definitely in your favour. I saw you walking around, looking up at the stands. What were you thinking?

MJ : Well I was searching, trying to find somethin', trying to find something to get me an idea of what to do. I didn't know what to do, and all of a sudden, I found the guy who started it all. Dr. J was sittin' over there looking at me and he pointed... like going back to the freethrow line. And I went back and did it first time and errr... I was kind of scared the first thing because I put so much energy into it and the second time put so much energy into it. And my facial expression I think told the story...