For most of the day, all everyone could talk about was the car that Blake Griffin was going to dunk over, in the 2011 NBA Sprite Slam Dunk Contest. Griffin did in fact break out the car for his final dunk, a spectacular piece of showmanship with featured a pass from teammate Baron Davis through the car's sunroof and a boys choir singing "I Believe I Can Fly," which was good enough to beat out JaVale McGee in the final round to win the contest. However, in reality, it was probably Griffin's fourth-best dunk of the night.
Griffin's first dunk of the final round was a pass to himself off the backboard followed by dunking with his full arm in the rim, an homage to this Vince Carter dunk from 2000 (though Carter didn't pass the ball to himself):
There is something about the NBA relying on a secretive fans' vote in the final round which takes away from the luster of the event. Everyone in Staples Center wanted Blake Griffin to win, and in the end that's what they got. I'm not saying that was the wrong result, but why not let the judges continue to vote in the final round as they did in the first round.
Speaking of the first round, that was the true highlight of the night. Griffin, McGee, DeMar DeRozan, and Serge Ibaka (who really got screwed in the first round; I mean, a 45 for dunking from the free-throw line?) put on quite a show. Their creativity was on display and was the main event; not some automobile.
The excitement at the end of the contest shouldn't exceed the excitement at the end. That said, all in all, it was an eventful and entertaining slam dunk contest, and that's all we can really ask for.