An oral historical past of the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Butch Carter: There was a $500 fantastic if my younger guys dunked in a follow. There was no dunking allowed. I advised them, “They’re my rims. Keep off my rims.”

Dee Brown (guard, Toronto Raptors): That was simply going to embarrass the older guys. If it wasn’t a $500 fantastic, it was, “You needed to cope with Oak [Charles Oakley].” You decide or select which one you need. You’d in all probability be higher off to get the $500 fantastic than cope with Oak, Kevin Willis or Antonio Davis.

Paul Jones (analyst, TSN): As a result of the older guys had delight. And a man like Oakley — when it got here right down to it, he may harm one among his personal teammates for attempting to dunk on him in follow, proper?

Vince Carter: The one time I keep in mind practising was in San Antonio. We had been on the highway in San Antonio at their facility. We had been playing around, simply no matter. It was in all probability per week or two [before the dunk contest]. I imply, it was shut, for positive. So I used to be simply toying round with some stuff and simply seeing if I may do it, how I felt about it and the way they reacted to it. That was form of my follow time. Once in a while after follow I would do just a few simply to idiot round when all people’s leaving after which go away it alone. It wasn’t, “I spent half-hour a day attempting.” You simply did not have that point.

Although there was a area of six individuals set to dunk in Oakland, three particularly caught the attention of these across the NBA. Their reputations appeared to precede them.

Jerome Williams (ahead, Detroit Pistons): I grew up in the identical space as Steve Francis, so I knew him very properly and I had performed with him for summers main as much as him being drafted. I knew that he had an excellent likelihood of successful simply because I had seen all his dunks. He was very inventive and really proficient. Tracy, we had seen him do some spectacular issues, however I had truly voted a dunk contest in Detroit when he was in highschool a yr earlier than he got here to the league. I noticed a whole lot of his creativity from a dunk contest standpoint. So I used to be like, “They do not perceive how nice this dunk contest is gonna be.”

Grant Hill (ahead, Detroit Pistons): I performed in Detroit, and in ’95 that they had a Magic Johnson All-Star Recreation on the Palace [of Auburn Hills]. I used to be a choose, and [Kevin] Garnett and Stephon Marbury and Vince Carter and all these guys had been there — it was their class. And Vince Carter went out and did one dunk after which all people give up. So he gained the slam dunk contest in ’95 simply off of default.

Vince Carter: KG and people guys had been like, “All proper, that is sufficient.”‘

“Should you watch it on the second dribble I smacked the ball actual onerous and that is after I felt like I powered up, you already know, like Mario Bros.”

Vince Carter

Hill: I feel he simply did a windmill, nevertheless it was how excessive he was and the way highly effective it was. I used to be kind of in my prime and leaping and dunking and regarded an excellent athlete, and it was like I could not have gone on the market and competed with that. And he was in highschool.

Francis: Even coming into the [2000] dunk contest they stated [Vince] was going to win. So all people was up in opposition to him.

Cynthia Cooper (choose, 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest): We knew he may dunk. We knew he was athletic. We simply did not know what to anticipate from him within the dunk contest.

Sensible: Simply based mostly on the highest three guys, T-Mac, Steve Francis and Vince, unexpectedly you had some official guys levitating above the rim. It was a way that the slam dunk winner that yr wasn’t going to be a novelty participant or a cult hero. He was a bona fide NBA All-Star.

Steele: So much was driving on this for not solely the league however the individuals who love the league and actually care about it. So that they needed to see these kids actually exit and show that the NBA had not simply utterly died as a result of Michael Jordan was gone.

For Carter and McGrady, earlier than the dunk contest, there was the small matter of arriving in Oakland for All-Star Weekend. They had been VIPs in northern California, however their schedules had been packed tight. Few moments from that weekend may match the posh during which they reached the Bay Space.

Haggith: Vince and Tracy had been each very younger, and this was one among their first actual experiences like that, being flown out to All-Star on their proprietor’s personal jet.

Glen Grunwald (common supervisor, Toronto Raptors): We had been sitting on the airplane, and Vince and Tracy confirmed up. And [Raptors owner] Larry Tanenbaum had — I feel it was a G5 — a kind of ultraluxurious company jets. And Judy, his spouse, had catered a gorgeous flight. She had shrimp and filet mignon and also you identify it. I used to be seeking to acquire about 10 kilos on the journey.

Haggith: It was shrimp cocktail, hors d’oeuvres — you already know, fancy meals befitting a non-public jet flight.

Grunwald: And Vince and Tracy get on the airplane, and so they had been hungry already and so they kind of noticed what was there and so they stated, “Oh, man. We gotta get some actual meals.” So that they despatched their driver again to McDonald’s to convey a boatload of McDonald’s to the airplane.

Haggith, the Raptors’ prime PR man, was assigned to remain on his gamers’ hips the whole All-Star Weekend. Whereas the official basketball festivities had been held at Oakland Enviornment (now Oracle Enviornment), most different NBA occasions occurred throughout the Bay Bridge the place the gamers’ inns had been, in San Francisco.

Haggith: For each Vince and Tracy, however Vince particularly, it was like touring with the Beatles. We’d actually be in a automobile within the parking zone after an look and followers could be rocking the automobile. His schedule for that weekend was jam-packed. We had been forwards and backwards over the bridge between Oakland and San Francisco between NBA appearances and occasions and his follow, and by the point we bought to Saturday night time, he was already fairly exhausted. And he simply wanted an hour of time to himself to seize a fast nap or get freshened up. So he simply requested to have the ability to come out to the world for All-Star Saturday night time slightly bit later as a result of he wasn’t on ’til later. The NBA was very accommodating. They organized a automobile for us.

Vince Carter: The visitors was so unhealthy our automobile did not present. It was nowhere to be discovered. No one may discover our driver, so we needed to match 5 of us in a single automobile.

Haggith: Vince and Tracy, you already know, their knees had been up by their ears squeezed into this automobile. We had been caught on this bridge, and I used to be fearful we weren’t going to get there in time.

Vince Carter: That lengthy drive sitting in between these guys … it was brutal. And I used to be like, “I am gonna cramp up and I am not gonna make it. It is gonna be the worst contest.”

Haggith: We pulled as much as the world a few half hour earlier than they had been imagined to be on.

Half II: ‘I will have individuals shaking their heads’

Contained in the Oakland Enviornment, a frenzy not like many others was constructing for the primary NBA Slam Dunk Contest in practically 36 months. The celebs had been aligned. Now it was time for the present.

Cheryl Miller (sideline reporter, TNT): Everyone was slightly bit nervous however optimistic that this may be the slam dunk [contest] that may convey again the status.

Steele: It rained cats and canine the entire weekend, and there was unbelievable visitors getting in there. But it surely was jam-packed. All the celebrities had been there. All of the celebrities had been there. All of the gamers had been lined up across the court docket. They had been so glad to see this again and to see the electrical energy that they actually couldn’t wait.

Francis: I used to be simply all of the celebrities there. Denzel. Spike Lee. I feel Halle Berry was there. There was a whole lot of Hollywood individuals.

Within the tunnel earlier than the occasion, Paul Jones interviewed Vince Carter for Canadian tv as he was about to take the court docket. His tenor didn’t counsel a person about to placed on the present of a lifetime.

Jones: The digital camera went off, and I stated, “Good luck, man. That is you. Get on the market and do it.” And he shook his head and stated, “Aw, thanks. Thanks. I do not know, man.” And he walked away. And I assumed, “Oh, OK.” I’ve bought a grasp’s diploma in sports activities psychology; it simply goes to indicate what confidence does. And a man like Vince — he might have seemed to be not very assured, however on the similar time, he bought on the market and when the lights went on he rose to the event.

The competition started with Hughes lacking his first dunk. Then McGrady, tossing the ball as much as himself, flushed dwelling a killer reverse leapfrog slam that bought the group to its toes. Subsequent was Francis’ flip. With no actual dunk deliberate, he scanned the court docket, drew inspiration and improvised. He lobbed the ball to himself however couldn’t catch it cleanly. As an alternative, hovering to the ring because the ball rolled off his proper hand, he threw it in off the bounce virtually along with his wrist. The world roared.

Francis: After I walked out the locker room — they’ve footage of it — I stated one thing barely to my brother. I stated, “I am about to throw it up from half court docket.” And that was it. I see Shaquille O’Neal, I see Tim Duncan, I see Isiah Thomas, I see Cynthia Cooper — lots of people I idolized rising up. And I see them proper there, and that alone gave me sufficient adrenaline to do what I did.

Subsequent up was Vince Carter.

James Posey (ahead, Denver Nuggets): Entering into, you hear a lot about Vince Carter, and also you see so lots of his highlights on ESPN it was like, now that he is within the slam dunk competitors, what may he provide you with that we hadn’t seen? I simply keep in mind sitting courtside there with Shaq, KG. Everyone had their camcorders out prepared simply to absorb all the pieces.

Miller: I requested [Stackhouse] who he is bought on this, and he stated, “I am going with Vince. He is bought the liveliest legs out right here, and I’ve seen him and T-Mac huddled up so that they’re planning one thing.” Everybody that was concerned form of knew that one thing spectacular was going to occur with Vince.

Dirk Nowitzki (ahead, Dallas Mavericks): It was my first dunk contest, so I needed to absorb as a lot as I may. I used to be fired as much as be there.

“So I stated to Tracy: ‘Simply stand right here and bounce it and get the hell out the best way.'”

Vince Carter

Marv Albert (broadcaster, TNT): I usually did not do [the dunk contest] then ‘trigger I discovered afterward that, as a result of I all the time do the All-Star Recreation, it kills your voice for the following day. You’re feeling it as a result of it is all concerning the pleasure of the decision; it is slightly powerful on the throat. However that one was value it.

Model: I am form of in a race [for rookie of the year] with Steve Francis, however we labored out collectively at Maryland, in order that’s who I am rooting for to win the slam dunk contest. [After] his first dunk, I am pondering, “OK, now we have an opportunity.” However then Vince Carter comes out with probably the most superb dunks I’ve ever seen.

Miller: Vince and I, earlier than we even [went on] air, I used to be giving him a tough time. Like, “Come on, Vince. How severe are ya?” He was like, “Cheryl, belief me. I will have individuals shaking their heads.” I used to be like, “Actually? So I am pondering, ‘shaking their heads’? So what kind of …” And he says, “Cheryl, I form of have an concept what I wanna do, however that may change.”

Vince Carter: I modified my routine within the layup line of the dunk contest.

Carter took to the court docket for his first dunk that night time with no true plan. The slam he had ready to open with he as an alternative determined to make use of second in his routine. For his debut, he thought again to a dunk he had performed solely two or 3 times earlier than in his life. It was a danger. He had barely accomplished the slam when he practiced it.

Vince Carter: I simply keep in mind they referred to as my identify. I used to be slightly nervous, and as I bought the ball, I am pondering, “Closing determination: yea or nay?” And I go searching, and I may simply really feel the power within the constructing off of simply the anticipation, and I used to be similar to, “Yeah, let’s go for it.”

As his NBA friends ringed the court docket, Carter approached the ring from the left, took just a few energy dribbles and rose from the ground. He launched right into a 360-degree flip, solely he was spinning the mistaken approach, rotating the unnatural path for a right-handed dunker. Irrespective of, for he accomplished his revolution whereas concurrently windmilling the ball earlier than stuffing it via the ring with a ferocity practically unseen earlier than. It was the primary good rating — a 50 — of the night time.

Miller: It was like an enormous tsunami within the area. All the large wigs, from Shaq, from KG, you had Jason Kidd — all people was like, “Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh!”

Steele: It was simply this large explosion of noise when he did that.

Williams: To return out of the gate with that — all people was like, “Whoa, wait a minute! Wait a minute!” One thing we would by no means seen earlier than, by no means been performed earlier than, as your first one?

Haggith: Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Garnett, their eyes had been simply miles huge. Their jaws had been on the ground. They simply could not consider what they had been seeing.

Allen Iverson (guard, Philadelphia 76ers): There weren’t any phrases that you can actually management that got here out of your mouth when you noticed it, you already know what I imply? It was principally, “Oh, my god,” or, “Wow, did you see that?”

Nowitzki: The gang was simply going nuts. I feel I punched someone within the ribs.

After the dunk, Carter set free a primal scream, the response to his doing the most effective execution of a dunk he had scarcely accomplished earlier than the competition.

Vince Carter: I did not hear something. The yell — it was so loud, it was like I used to be in a field screaming with no person else there. I simply went numb for a second. … That dunk I did in San Antonio. Barely made it. In order that’s why I scratched [it]. That dunk was a scratch. However then unexpectedly, I used to be like, “The hell with it. Let’s go.” As I took that first dribble, and should you watch it on the second dribble I smacked the ball actual onerous and that is after I felt like I powered up, you already know, like Mario Bros. And I simply felt like I gained two, three inches [when I jumped]. After I took off and circled, the rim was proper right here [at eye level].

It took minutes for the group to relax, lengthy sufficient for Stackhouse and Davis to finish their first-round dunks in relative anonymity. “[Stackhouse] was simply shaking his shoulders, like, ‘Actually?'” Miller says.

All anybody cared about was Carter and what he would do subsequent, however two opponents, McGrady and Francis, didn’t wilt away. For his or her second-round dunks, McGrady uncorked a two-handed windmill alley-oop whereas Francis confirmed off maybe his greatest dunk of the night time — an alley-oop the place he leaned in towards the basket, cocked the ball again towards his ankles and threw it in. McGrady obtained a 49, Francis a 50.

Carter’s second dunk was the slam he initially deliberate for the primary spherical. Ranging from behind the basket, he ran straight towards half-court after which, stopping abruptly a step contained in the baseline, he rose, spun to face the basket and windmilled the ball via once more. 4 of the judges raised a ten. One, Kenny Smith, didn’t.

Vince Carter: As soon as I did it, after I appeared over — 10, 10, 10, 10, 9 — I used to be, like, “And he is a Carolina man!” Like, “Come on, bro.” [Laughs.]

Miller: We’re like, “Are you kidding me?” [Smith] virtually bought banned from future judging on the slam dunk [contest] for that. We had been killing him. Danny [Ainge, broadcasting the event for TNT] was killing him. I am in my producer’s ear in the course of the industrial break. I am like, “Kenny, are you loopy? Simply put down the pipe and again away from it.” He is like, “Cheryl, I may’ve given him a 50.” However he was proper. The one factor Kenny did say was that first dunk Vince did set the bar so excessive that it is like he did it to himself.

Vince Carter: I used to be undoubtedly going for an ideal night time. That was my aim, and he spoiled it for me.

Getting into the third spherical, McGrady, Francis and Carter had already clinched a spot within the finals, and so there was a common sense they need to carry out a simple slam and save their greatest dunks. Francis missed his third-round dunk, however McGrady let free his greatest jam of the night time. From straight on, he tossed the ball within the air and caught it in a 360-degree flip, pumping the ball between his legs for good measure. It was an emphatic 50 and would have been a a lot greater deal had been it not for what occurred subsequent.

A part of the dunk contest’s guidelines in 2000 acknowledged that at the very least one among every participant’s first-round slams needed to include the help of a teammate. Entering into, Carter wasn’t absolutely conscious of the stipulation.

Vince Carter: They did not fairly inform us concerning the accomplice factor, so we did not follow that in any respect. I did not know. So I used to be like, “What the heck may I do?” I had noticed in {a magazine} — that is concerning the time the Power Shoe was out — and there was an image of this man within the air and he had his arms between his legs, leaping up within the air. So I stated, “OK, I am gonna attempt it.” So I stated to Tracy: “Simply stand right here and bounce it and get the hell out the best way.” He stated, “What are you gonna do?” I stated, “Simply bounce it and again up. About this excessive.”

On Carter’s center finger that night time had been stitches from an harm earlier within the common season, so he had concern whether or not he may full his dunk. His imaginative and prescient was to catch McGrady’s bounce move in midair, move the ball from his left hand to his proper hand via his legs and slam it via. As he rose off the ground to attempt the dunk, a humorous factor occurred: The NBA gamers courtside started to acknowledge what he was attempting. The roar began earlier than he may end the slam.

Reggie Theus (sideline reporter, TNT): When he bought up, he was already approach within the air, however as he threw the ball between his legs, it was virtually like doing the wave. You may see the fellows. Impulsively they had been beginning to construct. They had been standing and grabbing, and unexpectedly [Vince] got here again round and flushed it on the opposite aspect. And all people simply erupted. There was only a frenzy when that occurred.

Miller: In my ear, I may simply hear Kenny. Kenny Smith was going loopy, like, “That is a wrap! That is it! That is it!”

Albert: It went loopy. They went nuts. We’re so accustomed at these occasions to see the gamers — it is form of a jocular-type ambiance at these Saturday night time festivities. So the gamers are free and so they all react and overreact to it, however that was real response. They may not consider what he did.

James Duthie (broadcaster, TSN): As quickly because the ball went via the mesh, it was as loud as something I would ever been part of. Everybody was form of doing what Shaq and Garnett and [Chris] Webber had been doing, the place they put their arms out just like the previous Fred Sanford “I am coming to hitch ya, Elizabeth” factor, the place that they had their arms on their coronary heart. Folks had been falling over chairs and leaping over chairs.

Cooper: We [became] a part of the followers. We do not wish to choose this. We needed to share within the pleasure. And that is when Isiah — Isiah’s loopy — he jumped proper over the [judge’s] desk. We’re like, “Possibly it’s essential be within the dunk contest.”

Isiah Thomas (choose, 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest): I do not know what made me soar up like that. It is like — I am a fan. There’s an previous saying in my neighborhood the place I grew up. They used to say if you get shot, it was like, “It shot bolts via my coronary heart, child.” And that dunk shot bolts via my coronary heart.

Model: I used to be simply attempting to hype [Steve] up, like, “Let’s go.” Then after Vince began getting sizzling, it was like, “All proper, it is just about over, bro. However ya did good, man.”

Rick Barry (choose, 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest): Thank god for gradual movement, as a result of it occurred so quick I do not assume you actually, really admire how unimaginable the dunk was till you watch it in gradual movement.

Jed Jacobsohn (photographer, Getty Pictures): It was a fairly dynamic second photographically. I had one body that just about sums it up. [The ball] was completely between his legs, he is bought his eyes up on the hoop.

Sensible: David Steele, who on the time was with the San Francisco Chronicle, has this baritone snort. And there was this, “Oh, my god! Oh, my god!” And it was so loud it form of reverberated on press row.

Steele: [Laughs.] I do not assume I used to be aware of truly what I stated on the time. I simply keep in mind being in shock. I simply keep in mind yelling rather a lot, a kind of a mix of yell and snort. My snort tends to hold.

Sensible: Whenever you’ve bought reporters falling over themselves, which in some circumstances we had been, you already know you’ve got upped the ante for the occasion. Among the most cynical, jaded sports activities writers who had lined 10 of those are sitting there one another and falling over one another. There was part of us that it was all kind of like we had been in entrance of televisions as children watching Julius Erving take off from the free throw line once more. It was a kind of moments the place it virtually transported you again to if you began following the sport.

Cooper: There was a way that we would have liked to have a brand new scoring scale for Vince Carter. When you gave him a ten, you are like, “OK, what subsequent?” We wanted one thing the place we may go, “OK, all proper, that first dunk was a ten. Now we’ll the 13s and the 15s.”

The dunk was an ideal 50. As soon as he landed, Carter prolonged each arms upward, one cocked on the elbow, the opposite straight, and pointed to the sky — a form of Usain Bolt salute eight years earlier than the Jamaican sprinter would win gold in Beijing. As he walked again towards heart court docket, Carter waved his arms and, to the digital camera, mouthed his most well-known phrases of the night time: “It is over.”

Vince Carter: By no means practiced it. By no means tried it in my life. As soon as it went via it was like, “Thanks, God.”

Nowitzki: I keep in mind [his] pose. I nonetheless make enjoyable of his pose occasionally. In warm-ups [with Dallas, where Carter now plays], typically I squeak [a dunk] in over my fingernails and I level as much as the Jumbotron and say, “It is over.” And all people’s laughing. However, yeah, it was over at that time.

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Half III: ‘After which I rubbed my arm ‘trigger I am like, “That is gonna harm.”‘

To many, it was over. Although to not McGrady and Francis. Regardless of Carter’s outsized efficiency within the first spherical, the pair trailed by just a few factors. Within the first spherical of the finals, Francis earned a 43 for a leaning windmill jam whereas McGrady was given a forty five for a two-hand alley-oop windmill of his personal. With all his ready dunks scrapped, the strain was on Carter but once more to assume up one thing spectacular.

Williams: Sitting there and seeing it dwell was like, “OK, that is what the followers paid to see.” [It was] simply, “You provide you with one, I am going to provide you with one.” Forwards and backwards. Forwards and backwards. Everyone couldn’t anticipate the following dunk. It was that form of buildup since you knew any of these three guys may win and provide you with one thing loopy.

Posey: We had been speaking about, “What’s [Vince] gonna do subsequent?” We had been sitting on the sting of our seats attempting to see.

Antawn Jamison (ahead, Golden State Warriors): Me and Vince was greatest buds, so I used to be undoubtedly pulling for him. He’d come over and be like, “I bought one thing they ain’t seen earlier than.” And I stated, “Properly, I’ve seen all the pieces.” However he undoubtedly had some stuff we had by no means seen earlier than.

“On an excellent day I may have in all probability put my wrist in. On an excellent day.”

Dirk Nowitzki

Vince Carter: Proper earlier than it was my flip, I keep in mind sitting and pondering, “What am I gonna do?” I used to be pondering and pondering. So I am pondering I performed in Gary Payton’s basketball sport the summer season earlier than main as much as that yr. I used to be within the layup line playing around, leaping over the rim, dropping [the ball] in and no matter. And Cuttino Mobley was there at that sport with me. So we had been speaking [on the court in Oakland], and I stated, “Yo, you keep in mind in that layup line, the entire thing?” I stated, “I’ma attempt that, however I’ma put a twist to it.” He was like, “All proper, what are you gonna do?” I stated, “Simply hear me out.”

What he ginned up was his most radical dunk of the night time — one thing new, even harmful, an try he may properly harm himself attempting. To visualise the dunk, he first paced it out on the court docket.

Vince Carter: So I stroll it off, and should you discover proper earlier than I get to the rim, I say, “Pricey God, please do not let me fall off this rim.” After which I rubbed my arm ‘trigger I am like, “OK, that is gonna harm.”

Approaching the basket from the proper wing, Carter swooped in, bent low to assemble himself after which sprang within the air. He cocked the ball excessive along with his proper hand — excessive, excessive above the rim — and stuffed it via. Solely within the course of he continued his arm via the ring and grabbed on to the rim with the within of his elbow. He hung there, balletic, for a second so upon replay there may very well be no mistake what he had simply performed. When he landed on the ground, he held his head right down to hear. The cameras panned the group, the judges, the gamers. Nobody knew fairly what to do.

Posey: Everyone was like, “All proper, that is only a fundamental dunk.” However they did not know he simply put his entire elbow within the rim and was hanging there by his elbow. It took some time to register.

Model: It was similar to a pause, like, “OK, is that good?” After which, “Whoa, wait! His entire arm is within the rim? Woooooaaaahhhhhhhhh!”

Francis: I used to be quiet. I could not consider I simply noticed that. I do not assume anyone within the area knew what to assume when that occurred.

Darrell Armstrong (guard, Orlando Magic): [The crowd] was like, “What the hell?”

Steele: It was just a few individuals who bought it, and a few of us on press row jumped up and went, “Whoa!” And all people was similar to, “What? It is only a good dunk.” And I used to be like, “Do you see what he is doing?” They usually kind of did a double take, and so they all kind of ran for the displays to see once more. After which they confirmed the replay up on the scoreboard, and that is when all people kind of went loopy.

Butch Carter: I do not assume you’ve got ever seen a dunk contest the place a man did a dunk and it surprised all people to determine mentally what he had simply performed.

Mike Fratello (broadcaster, TNT): I simply keep in mind form of saying, like, “Overlook it. That is over now.”

Jason Kidd (guard, Phoenix Suns): It is one thing you dream about if you’re slightly child, however then to see somebody truly do it was superb.

Albert: You go searching and see mouths open in astonishment of what they noticed. It is a kind of — virtually just like the Jack Buck name: “I do not consider what I simply noticed.”

Thomas: It is that second of silence when everyone seems to be in awe that takes your breath away.

Vince Carter: I needed there to be a delayed response, principally. I keep in mind for me I felt like I used to be up there for, like, two minutes holding on. I used to be like, “OK, Butch is gonna see this someplace and he is gonna go loopy if I fall off this rim.”

Grunwald: I assumed, “Oh, no. He is gonna harm himself now.”

Iverson: Initially, you are saying, like, “OK, this man can soar like he [can] soar,” however you could not consider his creativeness was operating so wild to the place he may create one thing like that.

Model: The creativity — like, who would even assume to do this? I used to be younger then; I may dunk. However I am pondering, like, “Man, there is not any approach I may do any of that stuff.”

Nowitzki: On an excellent day I may have in all probability put my wrist in. On an excellent day.

Vince Carter: After I awakened that subsequent morning, my entire proper arm was black and blue.

Butch Carter: Tracy will let you know: When [Vince] caught his armpit within the rim, he knew it was over.

Vince Carter: In all probability a whole lot of guys [did].

Francis: I did not assume that. I did not assume I used to be going to lose in any respect. I used to be pondering the entire time that I used to be going to win.

Butch Carter: Should you say, “What are the highest three dunks ever in a dunk contest?” You are all the time going to have Dr. J in Denver leaping from the free throw line. You are going to have Michael doing the identical factor in Chicago. And also you’re undoubtedly going to have Vince’s arm within the rim.

Even for all that, there was nonetheless a contest at hand. Whereas McGrady missed his ultimate dunk, in essence eliminating him from the competition, Francis earned a 48 for his favourite dunk of the night time: an alley-oop reverse leapfrog the place he coiled his physique excessive within the air and appeared to convey his knees to the underside of the web for the stuff.

There was buzz within the area that, for his ultimate act, Carter may carry out a 720-degree dunk — a slam during which he would spin two full revolutions like an acrobat, an incomprehensible dunk he had truly accomplished earlier than. “If something I’d have tried it the final dunk,” Carter says. “If I do know I’d have gained the dunk contest [with it], that may have been the time to attempt it.” As an alternative, to cap off the competition, Carter sprinted the total size of the court docket and leaped from a step contained in the free throw line for a two-handed jam. The night time, and the trophy, was his. “I simply needed to do one thing to get it over, to get my dream,” he says. “My dream was to carry that dunk contest trophy.”

Fratello: It was form of a simple conclusion in the long run. When he bought performed, you knew emphatically that this was his night time.

Vince Carter: As soon as I bought the trophy, I am strolling off to the again. I am a Dr. J fan. He is my idol, the man who I appeared as much as. That was the primary man that shook my hand and congratulated me as soon as I bought off the court docket. Neatest thing ever. He got here and stated, “Younger fella, congratulations,” and we took an image holding the trophy with my associates. And I nonetheless have it at present.

Duthie: I keep in mind operating into the locker rooms after to attempt to get a one-on-one with Vince, and so we bought in there in good place and I ran over and all people got here to scrum him. And it was kind of one among my proud moments as a reporter. I simply stated, “We’re TSN from Canada. We’ve got an unique one-one-one.” Which was complete B.S. However all of them sat again whereas we did this three- or four-question one-on-one earlier than all of them caught their mikes in.

Theus: I keep in mind my son needed so badly to take an image with [Vince] and paradoxically he was my son’s favourite participant rising up. My son one time stated to me, “Dad, do you have got any previous movie of you taking part in within the NBA?” And I stated, “Certain.” So I went and bought a sport the place I scored my profession excessive in Boston Backyard. And I got here down the primary time and shot a pleasant, little leaner. Subsequent time, made a pleasant move and got here down one other and went to the bucket onerous and bought a finger roll. And my son appears to be like and says, “So, dad, when are you gonna dunk the ball like Vince Carter?” And I stated, “Dude …” I turned the tape off and advised him to get out of the room.

The joy from the night wouldn’t die down. Not that night time. Not practically 15 years later.

Theus: That introduced the dunk contest to a different stage, and it was a kind of moments like when Marvin Gaye sang the nationwide anthem [before the 1983 NBA All-Star Game]. It was a kind of moments that modified the best way individuals sing the nationwide anthem, and from that time on, now not was only a plain 360 ever going to be sufficient.

Iverson: Michael Jackson is my favourite artist of all time, and it was just like the closest factor to a Michael Jackson live performance to me on a basketball stage. I do not assume a dunk contest will ever be duplicated in that vogue ever once more.

Model: It was my first [NBA Slam Dunk Contest]. Possibly that is why I am form of nostalgic, however there was like a real buzz on that court docket like I may think about when Dominique and Jordan went at it, you already know what I imply?

Williams: The one different dunk contest that may actually evaluate with that one is Dominique versus Jordan.

Albert: To me, it was probably the most memorable since Julius when the ABA first launched the dunk contest in 1976 and he took off from the foul line. It is onerous to match doing a slam dunk contest with doing a few of the traditional video games — the playoff video games and the championship video games. However that is one you keep in mind. That is one I am going to always remember.

Granik: I admit to a private view right here that [Vince] might need been the most effective ever. And I noticed Dr. J and Michael and Dominique.

Jamison: The one advantage of me not taking part is I had a entrance row seat to all the spectacular dunks. Undoubtedly trying again into it, I’d by no means have had an opportunity to even compete with these guys and the stuff they had been throwing up. Folks are inclined to neglect — I imply, Vince was unbelievable — however Steve Francis and Tracy McGrady did unimaginable dunks.

“Everyone was pondering it: ‘God bless Vince Carter. The slam dunk competitors is again.'”

Cheryl Miller

Iverson: That is what takes it much more overboard. Another dunk contest Steve Francis or Tracy McGrady may have gained by a landslide.

Feigen: McGrady was fairly nice in it, and I assumed Steve Francis had among the finest performances ever. It is simply he had the second-best efficiency that day.

Francis: [Vince] beat the most effective. He beat the most effective that was on the market to problem him.

Iverson: Vince was simply — it was simply his night time. No one may have beat him that night time. No one.

Vince Carter: After that first dunk that I made and I had completed it higher than I had ever practiced it, I used to be like, “I really feel unhealthy for everyone. Even my cousin.” ‘Trigger I used to be in a zone then that I could not even clarify to anyone.

Miller: Everyone was pondering it: “God bless Vince Carter. The slam dunk competitors is again.”

Thomas: It was nice for all of the followers that weathered the storm. Attempting to get [to the arena] and all the pieces else — it was damp and moist and muddy, and visitors was loopy coming from San Francisco. For the individuals who weathered that — they and I, we felt very rewarded.

Iverson: I used to be part of it, and that is the best a part of it. I can inform my children, my son, that I used to be part of that night time.

Grunwald: You know the way you go to a film and somebody says, “That is the funniest factor I’ve ever seen,” and then you definitely go see the film and it was humorous however not the funniest film you’ve got ever seen? You possibly can overhype issues typically. And Vince exceeded the hype in that dunk contest.

Granik: We left the world [saying] to ourselves, “Possibly there’s nonetheless one thing left within the slam dunk contest in any case.”

Extra Vinsanity: The hoops legacy Carter left in Canada »

Jason Buckland is a author based mostly in Toronto. He has additionally written for the Toronto Solar, MSN and the New York Instances.