Top 10 All-Star Moments 2000-2009

[Andrew]

Article.

1. 2000 Dunk Contest
2. Dwight Howard's dunks
3. Jason Williams' elbow pass
4. The East's comeback in 2001
5. Michael Jordan's fadeaway in 2003
6. T-Mac's off-the-board alley-oop in 2002
7. Nate vs Dwight (2009 Dunk Contest)
8. 2005 Dunk Contest
9. Four pistons in the 2006 All-Star game
10. Shaq and his JabbaWockeeZ

I'm partial to number five, though I couldn't fairly rank it much higher. Number nine wouldn't make my list, it was significant of course but doesn't strike me as one of the most entertaining All-Star moments of the decade.

[benji]

Only 1 and 4 matter. The rest were boring as hell. And the four Pistons were laughable because only MAYBE two deserved to go.

1 matters because it re-legitimized the dunk contest. And 4 matters because it was the last good All-Star game, and might be the only good All-Star game of my life.

I'd say Shaq has put up more memorable All-Star Moments than the rest of the list combined. I mean:

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Plus? (More than this decade, but still.)

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Moar:

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[Andrew]

I completely agree that number one deserved its spot. It nicely countered Cheryl Miller's "Forget the dunk contest, 2-Ball is here to stay!" proclamation from the 1998 All-Star Weekend.

[jettdaking!]

four pistons!

[The X]

It's All-Star Weekend, you're lucky to find one good moment per year....I agree with 1 & 4....Dwight Howard Superman for entertainment value alone was top 10 for sure....I would include Barkley vs Dick Bavetta race....also David Lee absolutely ripping it up in the Rookie-Sophomore Game....so I've got a top 5....hard to do any better than that....

[Martti.]

Shaq and Lebron dance-off should be here instead of the four Pistons. Sure they came in together and played good basketball, but it's not that spectacular.

[Modifly]

I think Shaq's name should fill up that list from one to ten. There's also this occasion where he thew the ball off the backboard to himself for a dunk while shooting a freethrow. That was awesome to watch. Shaq and Chris Pau'sl give and go between Dwight's leg is also a top 5 for me.

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[Andrew]

It's All-Star Weekend, you're lucky to find one good moment per year....

I don't mean to single you out in particular as I know a lot of people feel that same way, but I have to admit that point of view puzzles me. Surely I'm not the only one that enjoys the All-Star game or All-Star Weekend.

[The X]

The main good All-Star moments for me actually seem to come off the court. I'll be the first to admit that I tend to enjoy the All-Star Saturday festivities a lot more than the actual showpiece event, the All-Star game. I don't know, players not playing defense & not playing seriously just doesn't do it for me. I would personally prefer no All-Star game (although I can understand why it's there). I think All-NBA teams represent the best players at their respective positions (I know Gilbert Arenas agrees with this) better than the All-Star game. I can't remember last All-Star game I watched, I think Eddie Jones was in it. I actually use to prefer when the All-Star players wore either the home or away jerseys of their teams. A lot cooler IMO.

[Andrew]

Fair enough. I enjoy seeing the big names all in the one place putting on a show, though I'd agree the lack of competitiveness can make the game a little dry in spots (some years are better than others in that regard and the games in the 80s and 90s were a lot better for the most part). There are over 1200 regular season games and four rounds of playoff basketball where the game is likely to be played more seriously, so for me the All-Star game is something different and a bit of fun.