(63-19) First Round Wraps Up [4-0]

[Houndy]

Axel win

[Axel The Great]

Posted by Axel Gomez, February 19, 2011 at 10:23 PM
All Blake Griffin had to do in this contest was come up with some FSS dunks, and he'd earn first place in this contest. Well, true to that, Griffin did come up with the sweeeeet dunks, and the judges delivered a flood of flawless scores of 10's. With fan voting eliminated, the dunks in the second round were really enjoyable, but in the end, Griffin's popularity and flashy dunks were what won him the contest. Below is a review of each player's dunks, and what score they received from five of the all-time greatest dunkers, which was the panel of judges for the contest.

Gerald Henderson - Henderson went first. He began by passing the ball to himself behind his back, and performed a nice reverse dunk. The first dunk of the contest was given an overall score of 47. For his second dunk, Henderson, ball in his hands, did a cartwheel, propelled himself into the air, and threw it down with authority. It took him a couple tries to get this one right, but it received perfect 10's from all five judges. Henderson's scores added up to 97; perfect shape to move on to the second round.

J.R. Smith - After Henderson set the tone, J.R. Smith began by passing the ball to himself behind his back, and then leaping up for a between the legs 360, and with the "ooooh"'s and "aaaah"'s from the crowd, that was automatically a 50 for Smith. Teammate Ty Lawson bounced the ball from under the basket on the baseline, and Smith, from about 10-12 feet out, took air and threw it down in a Air Jordan-esque type of dunk, completing his second dunk. Apparently, Smith had set expectations high for himself in his first dunk, as that dunk earned him just a 46. With a combined score of 95, Smith's hopes were for the next two contestants to botch their second dunks.

Chase Budinger - Bud came right out of the gates with a windmill reverse dunk, and because of the fact that he was able to pull it off in less than 10 seconds, he earned a score of 48. For his second dunk, Budinger set up a construction barricade 6-8 feet away from the basket, and performed a windmill dunk over the barricade. The judges, impressed with the use of props, gave Budinger a 50, which eliminated J.R. Smith from the contest. Bud's two dunks earned him a score of 98.

Blake Griffin - The bar was set high, and Blake Griffin delivered. Griffin began the Blake Show with performing a behind-the-back pass to himself, setting up a windmill dunk. Unlike the other windmills seen, the degree of difficulty of this particular one was high, because of the air time he got, and the distance he jumped from. The judges, impressed by the dunk, gave Griffin a score of 50. Next, Griffin bounced the ball inside the arc, and went up for a reverse, double-pump, honey dip dunk, much to the crowd's delight. That dunk also gave him a score of 50, which meant that Griffin and Budinger would be advancing on to the next round.

Second Round
Chase Budinger - After making a surprising second round appearance, Chase Budinger used the assistance of teammate Kyle Lowry, who bounced the ball off the glass, as Budinger went up for a windmill dunk, while jumping over Lowry. The judges didn't particularly think that dunk was hard to pull off given Lowry's 6'0" frame, but he still earned a score of 46. For his second dunk, Bud set three large red barrels in the same place he had set the barricade in the first round. What went next was shocking. Budinger came at full speed, jumped over the barrels and dunked the ball through, 360-style. That dunk really impressed the judges as he was given a 50. An overall score of 96, it was Blake Griffin's turn to see if he could surpass that mark.

Blake Griffin - Blake Griffin's second round dunks were something to behold. For his first dunk in the second round, Griffin pulled off a reverse, double-pump, one-handed slam and posed on the rim just to add flavor to the dunk. Pressured and persuaded by the crowd's electric cheers, the judges gave Griffin a score of 50. For the final dunk of the contest, a green, Kia Optima with the Dunk Contest logo on the sides drove into the concrete court, and parked under the basket. Griffin took the ball, passed it to himself behind his back, and dunked while jumping over the car.

Chase Budinger, knowing that that was a guaranteed perfect score, lost complete hope of winning the dunk contest. "From the moment I heard the engine of a car coming onto the court, I knew I had lost. All I could really do, was watch Blake fly," said an impressed Budinger.

The dunk was given a perfect score as well, and Blake Griffin took home the dunk contest hardware in front of an electric Los Angeles crowd.

"With the team struggling to obtain the eighth seed in the West, maybe this is the spark to get us over the top, and make the playoffs for the first time in what feels like forever," Griffin said, gleeful of having taken the "best dunker" award.

[Justine.]

Well, Griffin is the sure fire winner, but Budinger made it to the finals, which was pretty impressive

[Bucket]

Sure Griffin is overrated in real life and in video games, but Budinger did a great job.

[Cruzerr]

Completely agree with Valdis.

[Stress Fracture]

Who passed the ball to Griffin on his last dunk?

[Axel The Great]

Well, Griffin is the sure fire winner, but Budinger made it to the finals, which was pretty impressive

I don't think Bud was really expected to make the second round, but he disproves the stereotype of "white people can't jump".

Sure Griffin is overrated in real life and in video games, but Budinger did a great job.

Completely agree with Valdis.

I don't think he's overrated, imo, it's just the NBA dickrides him because of his highlight plays. But averaging 22 points and 12 rebounds irl in his rookie season is pretty impressive.

Who passed the ball to Griffin on his last dunk?

Griffin took the ball, passed it to himself behind his back, and dunked while jumping over the car.

ASG recap next! And then I'll be resuming with the normal, weekly (meaning in the game and irl) updates.

[Axel The Great]

West All-Stars 146-136 East All-Stars


LeBron's talents fly high for a sick dunk. | D-Wade's fourth quarter effort was huge, but not huge enough to claw the East back.

KD showing why he is the league's leading scorer. | Even Chris Paul threw it down!

Posted by Axel Gomez, February 20, 2011 at 11:16 PM
Box Score

The West began the game on a hot streak, with Thunder star Kevin Durant leading the way. He began the game shooting 9/10, to eventually become the high-point man and All-Star MVP. The youngest scoring champion in the history of the game came home with the award, with a statline of 30 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4 blocks, shooting 14/19 from the field. "It's an honor to have taken this award and being surrounded by all this talent. Everyone just kept looking for me to score, and even better is that we got the win," the MVP himself said.

The East would catch up eventually in the first quarter, with two triples from Dwyane Wade and LeBron James to take the lead. The first quarter ended with the score 38-30 in favor of the East. In the second quarter, a rally from Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant helped the West to trim down the margin, trailing by four at the end of the first half.

In the home of the Lakers, Kobe had 20 points to go along with 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal. Bryant shot 8/13 from the field, and 4/5 from downtown. "It's unfortunate that I couldn't take home MVP honors here in LA, everyone was cheering for me to do so," said the Black Mamba. He didn't take MVP honors, but he did take home the play of the game award, which is below.

A huge third quarter rally gave the West the lead again, but it wasn't Kevin Durant or Kobe Bryant with the point-pouring here. Carmelo Anthony and Al Jefferson contributed a nice chunk of points to this rally, and with the West on top, they cruised in the fourth quarter.

The West had a 10-point, 109-99 lead going into the final period. "What helped us in this bout was what helped the Rookies on Friday. Defense. We were able to hold the East down once it was time to play defense, and I think that was a huge factor," said the head coach of the West, Scott Brooks.

"Unforunately we could not pull this one out. We had big scoring help from D-Wade, and LeBron, but the West was just the better team this year," East head coach Doc Rivers said.

The West would eventually zoom to a 134-117 lead with a handful of minutes left in the game, but a rally from Dwyane Wade shaved that margin down. The East came within eight with Wade's effort, who scored 17 of his 28 points in the final period, mostly off of dunks and easy looks. Wade's effort was not enough, as the West takes the 2011 edition of the All-Star game in Los Angeles, 146-136.

All-Star MVP

Kevin Durant
30 points | 3 rebounds | 2 assists | 2 steals | 4 blocks | 14/19 FG

Axel's Play of the Game

phpBB [video]

Kobe Bryant drives baseline and pulls off a sick dunk.

Game Highlights:

phpBB [video]

A few highlights from the game.

[Grandmama Johnson]

Great game by Durant. His efficiency is downright scary. Any chance he moves to Houston?

[shadowgrin]

All-Star Weekend

[Stress Fracture]

Griffin got the ball from the car's roof?

Yeah, that's a nice ASG.

[Cruzerr]

Durant

[hova-]

Nasty highlights! Did you change the sliders? I usually make it like 0 D and up all the highlighting sliders - but you really had some nice action in there.

[Axel The Great]

Great game by Durant. His efficiency is downright scary. Any chance he moves to Houston?

Unfortunately no. He's pretty much locked up in OKC for the next five years, and I'm not willing to give up anybody from my team to land him. K-Mart has just as good efficiency anyways.

All-Star Weekend

Thanks! Glad you liked it shadow.

Griffin got the ball from the car's roof?

Yeah, that's a nice ASG.

He passed it to himself, then jumped over the car. And yeah, the ASG was full of highlights!

Durant

He slowed down in the second half, though it was probably because I controlled the West in the second half, and was more worried about having everyone else score. Every All-Star, including the East, scored though.

Nasty highlights! Did you change the sliders? I usually make it like 0 D and up all the highlighting sliders - but you really had some nice action in there.

I used the Casual sliders, but I brought down the medium and three-point sliders for myself; I was scoring even the most difficult, heavily contest J's. I also brought down the steals for the user, and the blocks for the CPU, it was at 95! But yeah, I recommend using the Casual sliders for anyone who plays the ASG, with those changes added.


Thanks for the feedback, guys! I hope you liked the ASW presentation, and I will be resuming the regular updates, starting with Week 18 that holds an easy schedule of the lowly Pistons, Nets, and Cavs!

[Justine.]

Nice highlights, especially the dunks by KD and sick blocks. Excellent presentation of the ASW

[kibaxx7]

What a game from Durant. Still can't believe Kevin was out of the game

[Stress Fracture]

Oh, okay. I'm so slow understanding that part.

Thierry •, who needs K-Mart if KD's there?

[Axel The Great]

Nice highlights, especially the dunks by KD and sick blocks. Excellent presentation of the ASW

Thanks! There was an abundance of highlights that unfortunately a 46-second video won't cover all of them.

What a game from Durant. Still can't believe Kevin was out of the game

He'll be in it next year, watch.

Oh, okay. I'm so slow understanding that part.

Thierry •, who needs K-Mart if KD's there?

Well, it was right there in the recap. Next season, K-Mart and KD will show the league some powerful efficiency, and the West will win again.

Week 17 tomorrow.

[kibaxx7]

Thierry •, who needs K-Mart if KD's there?

I know; I meant, for Rockets fans.

[Axel The Great]

I don't know if I'll be able to get Week 18 up today or tomorrow, depending on whether or not Playstation finishes their maintenance by then, but I did run into something funny at the end of the week.

Remember how the Pistons fired John Kuester and had Mark Jackson as their head coach? Well, they went on a 10-game losing streak, fired Jackson, and re-hired John Kuester.

[shadowgrin]

Well, they went on a 10-game losing streak, fired Jackson, and re-hired John Kuester.

That happens, even in 2K10.

[kibaxx7]

depending on whether or not Playstation finishes their maintenance by then

[Axel The Great]

Well, they went on a 10-game losing streak, fired Jackson, and re-hired John Kuester.

That happens, even in 2K10.

I know, it's pretty dim-witted to be honest. Unless all 10 of those games were 20-point blowouts, it may just mean that the team can't execute well in the fourth quarter. Something I think they should fix for 2K12.

depending on whether or not Playstation finishes their maintenance by then

It sucks. Rumor has it that people tried to hack PSN. Assholes.

If PSN isn't up and running by tomorrow, then I'll just post Week 18 with pics taken manually (w/ digital camera). Going old school like back from the beginning of the thread.

[Stress Fracture]

That would be just fine.

[Axel The Great]

YAY! Finally an update! Please note that I did play all three games, but the Nets game doesn't have screenshots because 2K once again shows how inept they are at making a game that runs smoothly. 2K Reelmaker kept freezing at the loading screen, tried it four times!

[40-17] Houston Rockets 122-107 Detroit Pistons [24-33]


Courtney Lee scored 14 points off the bench upon his return. | The Pistons' veterans ended up having great games.

After a high-scoring, action-packed, highlight reel All-Star Weekend, the Rockets came to Detroit and were in for a high-scoring, up tempo game. A score of 14-12 in fastbreak points won by the Rockets would indicate the speed of the game. Led by Kevin Martin, who scored 19 of his game high 34 points in the opening half, the Rockets were able to dominate the first quarter. Luis Scola also chipped in eight first quarter points of his own (he finished with 12 points) to force the Pistons to react. And react they did.

With the score 32-25 with a couple of minutes left in the first quarter, the Pistons went on a 13-0 run, as Charlie Villanueva and Richard Hamilton flooded the Rockets with three-pointers and wide open jumpshots to take the lead going into the second quarter.

The Rockets answered right back in the second with 36 points, this time led by their bench players, Courtney Lee, Kyle Lowry, and Chase Budinger. The Rockets would regain the lead halfway through the second quarter, and would not relinquish it for the rest of the game.

Instrumental to the Rockets' win was the shutting down of rejuvenated superstar Tracy McGrady, who was being harrassed by the stingy defense of Courtney Lee and Kevin Martin all game. The prior meeting between these two teams, T-Mac scored 22 points on 10/15 shooting, but this time, he shot just 1/5 and went 4/8 from the free throw line, on route to only six points. He did dish out 10 assists to compensate for that, but the Pistons were blown out on their home floor as the Rockets score a season high 122 points and are still in top shape after the All-Star break with a 5-game win streak.

Player of the Game-

Kevin Martin
34 points | 7 assists | 1 rebound | 3 steals | 12/20 FG | 3/3 3P | 7/8 FT

Key Performers:
Rockets:
Aaron Brooks - 18 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 8/13 FG, 2/4 3P
Courntey Lee - 14 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound, 6/11 FG
Yao Ming - 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 5 blocks, 6/10 FG
Luis Scola - 12 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 5/16 FG
Kyle Lowry - 9 points, 3 assists, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 3/8 FG

Pistons:
Ben Gordon - 25 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 9/22 FG
Tayshaun Prince - 19 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 9/18 FG
Richard Hamilton - 18 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 8/11 FG
Rodney Stuckey - 17 points, 7 assists, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 5 TO, 5/8 FG
Charlie Villanueva - 14 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 5/9 FG, 3/4 3P

32 36 27 27 122
38 21 23 25 107

[41-17] Houston Rockets 105-82 Cleveland Cavaliers [20-36]


Scola notching another double-double. | B-Diddy has gone from Hollywood to Siberia; he couldn't get the job done in this game either.

The Rockets played lockdown defense in the first half, holding the Cavs (whom were fresh off an upset win against the Lakers) to 34% shooting. The intensity for Cleveland would ramp up in the second half however, as they began to figure out how to get past the Rockets' defense. It was probably due to the fact that they lost interest in the game, as it was already garbage time when the third quarter began.

The most notable happening in this game was Yao Ming's milestone. The seven-foot Chinese center has become the sixth Rocket in franchise history to surpass 10,000 career points. The milestone was scored by a layup from a feed from Aaron Brooks.

"Normally we'd go out and party, you know head to a club or just go to a bar and grab a few beers. But since we're in Cleveland, all celebrations are postponed until we get back to Houston tomorrow," Rockets superstar Kevin Martin said, proud of his teammate.

"It felt like forever; many injuries and nine years later, I finally reach 10K. I credit my teammates and the franchise for having the patience despite my injuries, and it's just an awesome feeling to hit a big milestone like this," were Yao's words on the subject.

Player of the Game-

Kevin Martin
27 points | 5 rebounds | 4 assists | 2 steals | 9/19 FG | 3/5 3P

Key Performers:
Rockets:
Luis Scola - 20 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 9/14 FG
Yao Ming - 14 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 4 blocks, 6/13 FG
Aaron Brooks - 13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 5 TO, 2/12 FG, 8/8 FT

Cavaliers:
Antawn Jamison - 18 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 9/17 FG
Anthony Parker - 16 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 6/16 FG
Joey Graham - 14 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 7/14 FG
Anderson Varejao - 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 6/16 FG
Baron Davis - 6 points, 7 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals, 2/11 FG

26 29 25 25 105
15 16 25 26 82

[42-17] Houston Rockets 102-83 New Jersey Nets [18-40]

A hot start offensively set the tone for the Rockets, routing the new-look Nets in the first quarter with 36 points. Their prized trade deadline acquisition Deron Williams struggled as he scored a relatively quiet 16 points on 6/17 shooting. Not quiet though, was Brook Lopez, who scored 28 points and grabbed eight boards, making an effort to keep the Nets alive in this one.

The Rockets are now riding a seven-game win streak, retaking the first seed in the Western Conference, capping off what was arguably the easiest week of the season.

Player of the Game-

Kevin Martin
29 points | 4 assists | 2 rebounds | 1 steal | 9/15 FG | 9/10 FT

Key Performers:
Rockets:
Luis Scola - 17 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 8/14 FG
Aaron Brooks - 13 points, 4 assists, 1 rebound, 3 steals, 6/10 FG
Yao Ming - 10 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 3/5 FG
Kyle Lowry - 6 points, 10 assists, 2 rebounds, 2/9 FG

Nets:
Brook Lopez - 28 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 13/26 FG
Deron Williams - 16 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 TO, 6/17 FG
Kris Humphries - 12 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals, 4/7 FG
Travis Outlaw - 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 4/12 FG

36 27 21 18 102
19 23 20 21 83