No player has ever won three Slam Dunk contests, but diminutive (5-foot-9) Knicks guard Nate Robinson can do exactly that Saturday night in Dallas – however, he opened as only the second favorite on Bodog's NBA basketball odds.
Robinson is one of five players to have won this event twice (also in 2006) but only the second to try for No. 3. The other was Jason Richardson, who lost in the finals in 2004. Robinson has been battling a groin injury that almost forced him out of this year's contest, so that may play a role in what he can perform. Of course he won in pretty memorable fashion last year by leaping over 6-foot-11 Dwight Howard. Robinson was dressed in all green to symbolize kryptonite, which is Superman's one weakness. Howard, of course, calls himself Superman and was wearing a Superman cape when Robinson leapt over him.
That's really what the Slam Dunk contest has become: How creative you can be with props. The big stars now avoid this like the plague, with LeBron James saying during last year's contest that he was "preliminarily" putting himself in the 2010 contest but then passing, as did Howard.
That leaves a fairly non-descript group of dunkers led by Lakers guard Shannon Brown, who opened as the Bodog favorite. Brown can jump out of the gym, but he's not even a starter on his own team (neither is Robinson most games). No Laker has won the Slam Dunk contest since Kobe Bryant in his rookie season (1997), but then again no Laker has been in it since then. Also in this year's event are Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace and Raptors rookie DeMar DeRozan, who beat the Clippers' Eric Gordon in a dunk-in on Friday night.
The two dunkers with the highest first-round scores will advance to the final round. And that's where the fans determine the winner. In the final round, fan voting polls will open via text messaging and at NBA.com. The combined results from those will determine the champion. Robinson got 52 percent of the vote last year to edge Howard.
Where are the best NBA props? That's a slam dunk: Bodog.
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