NBA ROCK

Dwayne Wade got eliminated first round! I was worried about his jumper, which did hurt him, but I think he lost a lot of hope after losing his handle weaving through the dummies.

I was pulling for him, too. But it was Deron Williams who emerged victorious, setting a new Playstation Skills Challenge record of 25.5 seconds — shattering Steve Nash’s old record. Deron really surprised me in the second round by nailing everything perfectly. All of his passes went through first attempt as well as his jumper. So congrats to Deron Williams!

I took a shot when I predicted Daniel Gibson winning the 3-point shootout and bricked it. He did come in 2nd place, though. 1st place went to Jason Kapono, who now holds the titles to the 2008 and 2007 3-point shootouts. He’s got such a smooth shot. It’s no wonder he’s hitting an impressive 51% of his 3-point attempts in games this season. And did you see the arch on Dirk’s shot!? Ridiculous…but I suppose it’s necessary when you’re a 7-footer!

Yes! Dwight Howard is superman! I’m glad I got at least one prediction right! Sadly, Rudy Gay’s dunks were a bit uncreative and disappointing. But MAN Dwight has hops for a 7-footer (nearly). But the absolute best part of the dunk contest, without a doubt, is Kenny “The Jet” Smith. He gets SO excited about it and it just rubs off on you every year. I ended up looking forward to his reactions more than I looked forward to the dunks! Half of the time, at least.

Gotta love this time of year. Last minute trades abound, the annual All-Star game, and all of the little things in between. Little things like the Playstation Skills Challenge. Last year Dwayne Wade took it home. This year, he’s gonna try to repeat.

2008 Playstation Skills Challenge Participants

• Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat
• Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets
• Jason Kidd of the (maybe not for long!) New Jersey Nets
• Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz

Dunno about you folks, but I’m certainly excited to see this year’s skills challenge. I’m gonna go ahead and put my money on Dwayne Wade to uphold his title. My only doubts about Wade not getting it this year would be his long-range jumper. I’m more than confident in his mid-range jumper, his passing, and his ball handling. But it’s his long-range jumper that worries me. My rankings for the skills challenge:

1. Dwayne Wade
2. Deron Williams
3. Chris Paul
4. Jason Kidd

3-point shootout! Jason Kapono defends his title! He’s holding the highest 3p% of all the participants this year, too:

• Jason Kapono - 51%
• Daniel Gibson - 47%
• Richard Hamilton - 47%
• Steve Nash - 47%
• Dirk Nowitzki - 30%
• Peja Stojakovic - 46%

Who’s going to win? I’m going with Daniel Gibson — just because I love him so much. Yeah, sorry about the Cavs bias! No, wait, I’m not! But honestly, I think it’s a toss-up this year. Sure Dirk’s 3P% is dismal in comparison to the other participants this year, but he could always turn that around during the competition.

The T-Mobile Rookie Challenge goes to…Err, I mean: The T-Mobile Kevin Durant + Al Horford vs. Brandon Roy + LaMarcus Aldridge goes to the SOPHS. I didn’t have a doubt in my mind last year that the sophomores would wipe the floor with the rooks (which they did). But this year, even though I’m a bit more timid about it, I’m still going for the sophomores. They do, after all, have a year’s-worth (well 1.5 years or something) of experience under their belts!

Slam Dunk Contest! Always fun…always. Right when I thought it was starting to get a little mundane and uncreative, Dwight Howard puts a sticker on the backboard and slams it home — THEN PROCEEDS TO GET ROBBED BY THE JUDGES! 8, 8, 8, 9, UGH! My vote for this year’s slam dunk contest winner is Dwight Howard. Though I’m looking forward to seeing what Rudy Gay throws down.

dwight4prezz kindly linked us to this YouTube video of Dwight Howard’s dunks which gives us a fantastic sneak peak.