Linkage - Feb 17
Jason Kapono would put the big, silver trophy he earned for his second-straight NBA three-point shooting contest in his locker at the Air Canada Centre, but he’s worried he might make his teammates jealous.
"I think it would upset a few guys," said Kapono the Toronto Raptors sharp-shooter whose deadpan is nearly as deadly as his three-point stroke. "We have a very talented team with a lot of guys who shoot threes. I don’t want them all staring at my trophy because it might screw them up a little bit."
He’s going to put in his bathroom, so "every time I take a shower, or brush my teeth I’ll start my day out staring at this beautiful trophy right here."
On his first dunk Moon tossed a lob and caught it off the bounce in mid-air for a spinning, one-handed 360 that earned 46 points. But after Gerald Green had accumulated 91 points on his two dunks, Moon needed at least 46 on his second.
He laid a piece of tape down two feet outside the foul line — or about 17 feet from the rim — and enlisted Kapono to throw a bounce pass that he was going to catch and dunk in one motion.
The problem was Kapono’s toss drifted to Moon’s left-hand side forcing Moon to adjust in mid-air and dunk left-handed. It was a remarkable athletic effort, but not the dunk as planned and Moon earned just 44 points for a total of 90.
"I wanted it on my right, but wherever he threw it I was going to go get it, it didn’t matter," said Moon, ever gracious.
A bigger factor, said Moon, was that he didn’t realize he was required to do the partner dunk in the first round and felt he wasn’t properly warmed up for it.
He was more upset — again with a big smile on his face — because Dwight Howard’s two-foot take off from just inside the foul line, complete with a Superman cape, wasn’t technically a dunk, as Howard’s hand never touched the rim, making the most difficult lay-up in the history of basketball.
"We need size. It wasn’t a hard choice," Rivers said. "I didn’t have but him and Rasheed left when you think about it."
Bosh, meanwhile, is happy to hear it.
"I don’t have much hype behind me,” he said. “I never have, and I’m pretty much creating it for myself right now so given the situations I’m in I just have to take advantage and hopefully some day I will be a household name. It means a lot to me. I wanted to start in this game. I think everyone can figure that out from the video."
It was just prior to his second dunk when confusion set in for Moon.
His plan was to use the dunk where he bounced it off the One Block, grabbed it and took it to the other side before dunking it backward. But as he lined up to make the dunk, one of the officials ran out and informed him he had to use a partner on the second dunk.
That was news to Moon.
"They never told us the teammate dunk had to be in the first round," Moon said. "I was going to save that dunk for last so I would be good and warmed up. I probably would have had a little sweat by then."
Kapono drained 10 straight shots at one point, blowing away the opposition in defending his three-point title.
The native Californian scored 25 points in the final round – tying the all-time record for the competition set by Chicago’s Craig Hodges in the first round in 1986 – to beat Cleveland’s Daniel Gibson and Dallas’s Dirk Nowitzki and take home the $35,000 winner’s share for the second straight year.
Kapono, whose 50.1 per cent efficiency from beyond the arc leads the NBA this season, hit all five balls in his final rack to punctuate his victory. Gibson was second with 17 points and Nowitzki third with 14 but Kapono had iced the title before any of his final five shots.
That silenced the chattering LeBron James, who was needling Kapono and cheering on his Cleveland teammate Gibson the whole way. A few seats over, though, Chris Bosh sat giving Kapono some support.
"He (James) was telling me I was scared, and stuff like that," said Kapono. "He’s Boobie’s (Gibson’s) boy. That’s okay."
Kapono made all five balls on his final rack to score 20 points in the first round and advance to the final. He had said Friday that getting off to a quick start was important and then he came out and missed the first two shots he took.
"It’s so weird because you’re sitting out and you’re cold and you have to come in there and catch fire quickly," he said.
The 23-year-old, who’ll start his second straight All-Star Game and play in his third in a row here tonight, is hardly ever mentioned in the same sentence with James, Wade and Anthony, all members of a 2003 draft class that will go down in NBA history as one of the best of all time.
He doesn’t have the flash or the style or the success of the others, and to casual fans he’s just a good, young big man playing on a team held in little regard.
That’s where casual fans are wrong. That "household name" stuff doesn’t hold true when NBA types start talking.
"It comes in conversation with people in the league," said Boston’s Doc Rivers, who decided to start Bosh tonight for the injured Kevin Garnett.
"It doesn’t come into conversation with the casual fan and it should come in. When you mention Dwyane Wade (and) LeBron, Chris Bosh’s name has to be in that conversation every single time."
Bosh is denied some of the hype and publicity simply by his style, but less is more when it comes to the 6-foot-10 native of Dallas.
"I know I’m not a power player, that’s fine with me," he said. "I know I don’t dunk every ball, I know I don’t finish a lot at the rim but I do get it done and try to stay consistent."
He’s in Toronto, he doesn’t dunk everything and he’s not on the highlight reels every night, all of which counts against him.
"All that plays into it," said Rivers. "He’s quiet, he’s not a guy who’s ever going to bring it on himself, except for that video he did – I think he should have a nomination for that – but he should (get more recognition)."
If Bryan Colangelo is looking to make a minor move ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, he’s got an underused guard who’d welcome it.
Juan Dixon, who has become little more than a spare part on the Raptors this season, would be open to a deal, a league source said last night.
Dixon is in the final year of a contract that pays him about $3 million this season and his diminished role in Toronto could make him less marketable as a free agent this summer.
A chance to go somewhere and be productive – just as he was after joining the Raptors almost a year ago – could allow him to restore his reputation as a solid scorer.
The source said Colangelo is aware of Dixon’s desire to be moved but there is nothing concrete on the table. The president and general manager is thought to be reluctant to pull off a move that would add any significant salary to his payroll because the Raptors need to re-sign both Jose Calderon and Carlos Delfino this summer.
Qey, Branson: I had a trade idea and wanted to know if you thought it would work. The Cavs send Larry Hughes, Shannon Brown, and Cedric Simmons to Toronto and get Rasho Nesterovic and T.J. Ford. We actually save Toronto money, improve its starting five, and fill its need for rebounding off the bench. Shannon could be the Raptors’ future or just trade bait. - Chuck Eggleston, Warren, Ohio
Aey, Chuck: The only reason it wouldn’t work is because the Raptors love Ford and Nesterovic.
A former second-round pick, Kapono has averaged 8.2 points while shooting a blistering 51 percent from the arc this season.
His hot stroke got the crowd in a frenzy, including teammate Chris Bosh courtside, as he nearly made all of his shots on the last two racks on Saturday.
Jamario’s second dunk would go awry though, as he placed a piece of tape two feet above the free throw line, leading up to a huge anticipation from viewers and the fans. What he did next though, was have Jason Kapono bounce the ball up in the air for him to grab and dunk, left-handed. The only problem was that he took off the heel of his foot on the free throw line, meaning he was at least a three feet in front of where the tape was placed. Also, he did it on his second attempt, killing the momentum. The anticipation built up from placing the tape where he did and then doing something really completely different than what everyone had in mind really hurt his score (44), which wasn’t enough for him to advance to the second round. I think he might have gotten a higher score if he wouldn’t of place the tape down, but I have no doubt that he’s taken off from there before, but it just takes an absolute perfect scenario of the toss and knowing where exactly you have to take off for it to happen.
Jason Kapono proved that he is the best shooter beyond the arc in the NBA for the second consecutive season by winning the footlocker contest at the All star weekend for the second time in as many years.The Toronto Raptors forward also scored 25 points in the finals against Daniel Gibson and Dirk Norwitzki and equalled the world record set by Price way back in 1986.Kapono made all the money balls in the final round.
The pain?
Well that would have been Jamario Moon, who turned in a great performance but lost out by a nose (one point) to Gerald Green to advance to the final round. Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley had it right, had Moon not put down the tape to show where he was going to jump from, his dunk would have volleyed him into the final round. However it was not to be and with the show Dwight Howard put on, you had to wonder if Moon would have stood a chance even if he had advanced.
All in all though, it was a great night to be a Raptors’ fan. Moon missed his signature dunk but he was no Chris Anderson…nor even a Rudy Gay. Moon’s first dunk on replay was unreal considering how long he floated in the air for and how far (check how he jumped from the restricted area) away from the rim he was when he threw it down.
And of course Kapono was simply a flamethrower out there.
Feb 17th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Well, I guess Jamario is a perfect fit on a Colangelo team, since he feels the need to lie to cover up his mistakes.
As per the rules, which have been on the NBA website since January and, I’m guessing, were told/given to the players in plenty of time:
http://www.nba.com/allstar2008/slam_dunk/08dunk_rules.html
You knew you had to use a player in the first round, Moonman. You just blew the dunk. Admit it and move on. Don’t follow Colangelo’s lying ways.