NBA 2ball: The Competition that Killed the Dunk Contest

[TMC]

When it first debuted as part of the NBA's All-Star Weekend festivities in 1984, the slam dunk contest was the premiere event. For years millions of fans tuned in to watch basketball legends like Michael Jordan, "Dr. J" Julius Erving, and Dominique Wilkins compete to see who the king of the slam dunk was. But by the late '90s, public criticism for the contest had grown, and after a disastrous 1997 outing, the NBA decided to cancel it. However, with the 1998 All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden approaching, the NBA knew they needed some sort of replacement and so they reached into their bag of tricks and introduced to the world NBA 2Ball, and the event was so bad that the dunk contest IMMEDIATELY returned. This it's story.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

In 1997, there was an NBA Dunk Contest and it almost ruined something we all love: slam dunks. Basketball was in everything that year -- movies, television, and music -- but not in the place we wanted it to be.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

The NBA Dunk Contest was mediocre this year which is a huge improvement over recent competitions. People often ask what went wrong and it turns out you can pinpoint when the Dunk Contest died to a specific few days.