February 12, 2022 • 35 mins
Hosted by Sarah Kustok, NBA Flashback is the podcast that takes you back to the best moments in NBA history through exclusive archival audio from the NBA vault, along with new interviews with the players and coaches who were in the building.
In this episode of NBA Flashback we go back to Feb. 12th, 2000 and relive the night Vince Carter changed the course of dunking history with an epic performance that has stood the test of time. We talk with Vince about how vitally important the dunk contest was to him, a mix-up that made him and TMac late to the arena, and his favorite moment of the night. In this 2-part show, Vince goes deep into each of his 5 dunks from the contest and breaks down his mindset and plan for each one, as well as comparing his performance to the other best dunkers of all-time.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
NBA Flashback is a production of iHeart Radio in the
NBA from the Toronto Raptors Clutter. It's all fun, lady
to each other. That is a reverse pretty six there going.
(00:24):
It gets the grain that is unbelievable. Everybody knows who
knows it's gonna be hard. The one that dunkines has
my best card any I've never seen it before. Rong,
I'm not sure the guy can't go into the rim
let purpose Michael moved. Somebody's coming to get your best cover.
(00:49):
Vinceanity was born twenty two years ago. I'm February twelve,
two thousand. Vince Carter changed the course of NBA history
with one epic dunk contest. We are honored to have
Vince on the show today to talk about how important
that night was to him, how it compares to the
(01:09):
other great dun contests, and give us the behind the
scenes stories that you haven't heard before. I'm Sarahkustack and
you're listening to NBA Flashback, the show that takes you
back to the greatest moments in NBA history, using archival
audio from the NBA as well as new interviews with
the players and the coaches who were in the building.
(01:30):
In this episode of NBA Flashback, we go back to
February twelve, two thousand, when the Y two K scare
ended up being no big deal, but Jennifer Lopez was
about to change the world by wearing a certain green
for Sacci dressed to the Grammys. Today, we are talking
with Air Canada himself eight time All Star Vince Carter
(01:53):
about the night in Oakland when he not only saved
the Dunk contests, but much like j Lo's Grammy dress,
he create did something that would set the Internet on
fire and people would still be talking about to this day.
The day before the contest, Vince talked to the media
at the hotel, and listen closely because, as we learned
during the show, Vince may not have been telling the
(02:15):
whole truth to the reporters. I have any tricks. I'm
just going to have fun. Man. It's just to do
the things that I know how to do. Man. Uh,
there's some things that I'm gonna probably try that I've
never tried before. And if I make it, I'm making it. Don't.
Oh well, no, that's how I see it. I'm just
gonna have fun, man. I got into have fun, not
to prove a point. First of all, Vince, thank you
(02:36):
so much for joining us. I appreciate it. You got
it all right. So take us back to the night
before the Dunk Contest February eleven, in your hotel in
San Francisco, probably hanging out with your cousin and then
teammate Tracy McGrady. What was going through your mind the
night before? So I was going through my mind is
excitement and of course me well, leading up to the
(02:58):
All Star Game, t MAC and I were invited, and
he started second guessing the fact that he didn't about going,
not for him being nervous. He's like, I'm playing, I'm
dunking for second place. It's like, I'm not gonna beat you. Me,
I had dreams of being in the NBA Dunk Contest
and we always talked about it leading up to it
(03:19):
that that that year, and I'm like, no, we're here.
We're not backing out. You're not backing out of this,
like this is this is it? So you know? And
so I had a routine of dunks that I wanted
to do and I'm like, okay, going through it like
I'm literally studying, like it's my mid terms. Of college
for college, like literally, like just you know, just because
(03:42):
I used to as a young kid, I used to
record the dunk contest and go back and playing. So
depending on if they're on the East and West coast
of me went on the West coast, being a Florida kid,
they got they were late, so my mom woul let
me watch some of it, not all of it. You know,
I didn't care about really everything else three point contests
and all that stuff. That Saturday cool, I'm here to
see the dunk contests, and I made sure I take them.
(04:03):
And I used to go back and studying and watch him,
and I watched them to see like what was this
guy thinking and why was he trying to do this?
What was he trying to accomplish or show the people
watching in this dunk? That's kind of what I looked
at the way I looked at it. So I will
always go back and just watching and watching tapes. And
after a while, if I popped this tape, that VHS tape,
now it's scrambled from rewinding it and past for it
(04:26):
so so so much so, you know, just thinking about
all of those times as a kid, talking about it,
reacting to it, in school the next day from what
we saw from I mean, you name it, JR. Ryder too,
Harold Miner, I mean, so many people, and we just
talked about it, and I remember saying, one day, I'm
gonna be there. I'm gonna be there, god willing, if
(04:46):
I can get into the n b A, I'm gonna
participate in the Dunk Contest. Like it was just like,
I want to get the NBA, I want to play,
but I want to be in the Dunk Contest. Like
at that time, that was end all be off for me.
So being getting drafted, its yes, step one is here,
like and then it was a lockout years so they
said no All Star games whatever. So I was just
kind of waiting, chumping at the bit, waiting for my
(05:08):
time and finally get there, and you know, you have
to go through all the other stuff. And I was
the leading vote getter that year as well, so it
was kind of all of the other things that were
going on with that. So it's kind of like the
All Star Game Saturday. I was like, Okay, yeah, that's
so far away. Who cares? Like Saturday? When can I practice?
When can I do this? You know that? And yeah,
it was it was tough to sleep at night. The
(05:28):
celebrities were out for All Star Saturday Night, and Reggie
Theis interviewed actor Michael Keaton before the contest started. Are
you gonna come to the Dunk Contest? Who's your favorite
the dunk contines, I'm liking Vince Carter a lot on
that one, but I think it's his cousin and plays
with him as his cousin. The places one looks hotly
sweet too, and I think, but I think it's I
(05:48):
think it's Vince. All right, we'll see Vince Carr. Alright, guys,
you heard it over here. So with that being said, though,
because you brought up a couple of things, the Dunk
Contest had kind of lost its luster. The NBA decided
not to have it. Nope, I didn't say. You said
they didn't have it. They didn't have it ninety eight
lockout in ninet. So not only was there some pressure,
(06:13):
but you were the overwhelming favorite to go along with it.
Did you feel some some nervousness, some just extra anxiety
because of that, because of all these factors coming in,
I was excited. I didn't even realize because you think
I came in and yes, there was no All Star
and all that stuff. So it was just a year
(06:34):
or so removed from the Dunk Contest prior to I
think Kobe one, and then it was the gap and
then coming back. So I was nervous for being on
the stage in the arena where I wanted to be
a part of for so many years. That's what I
was nervous about. I was overly excited, but I didn't
fear the pressure. I just want to go out there
and show people what I could do. I was, I
(06:55):
guess green, so green and just dumb enough where I
didn't like dumb like you're the favorite and saw this pressure.
I didn't. I didn't think about it like that. TNT
had a big crew covering the event. You know famous dunkers,
Marv Albert, Mike Fritello, Danny Ainge. They were on the
play by play, also assisted by former Dunk Contest participant
(07:17):
and current judge Kenny Smith. Welcome Old ca Althoritia of Albert,
Danny Age with biz Are Mike for Tello. A sensational
field coming up and they slam dunk competition certainly has
Carter of the Toronto Raptors is the favorite. The connecting
cage were all six contestants. Was there pressure on this carter?
Everyone seems to be picking hup to when they warned, well,
(07:39):
first of all, Kenny was a little bit excited. I
think he should be back in the competition this year.
But he's looking at me over there. He's judging, first
of all, Kenny North Carolina judge, North Carolina Ductor. He's
got to be the favorite for sure. But I don't
think there's any pressure on him. Marm. I mean, this
guy can dunk in his sleep. I'm thinking more so, like,
all right, I can't wait. I want to do all
my dunks at one time and just be done. Like
(07:59):
I was just so excited about it. So it's just
the pressures of I think I put more pressure on
myself not to miss dunks because one thing I couldn't
stand with missing dunks. You know, I worked so hard
and I had the ability to dunk for so many
years of my life, and I couldn't stand missing dunks,
whether it was in game, trying to dunk over somebody,
around somebody, whatever the case may be. And I still
(08:22):
hold on to missing the I still hold on the
missing that dunk against Duke off the backboard from Edd Cota.
And this is in college. Obviously, this is still this
is still sitting in your mind. You're still thinking about that.
I wanted that chance that happened, and I kind of
got a small rendition from j K thrown off the
(08:42):
backboard versus Clippers and another team, but it wasn't the same.
But you know, so when I talk to think about
dunking and dunks that I've missed, that is by far
number one. And I didn't want to miss a dunk.
I wanted to go through this and have his flawless
of a performance, whether it was a eas and and
and everyone enjoyed it or not, at least I could
say I did miss it dunk. And you know, if
(09:05):
the dunks weren't to the standards of everybody, so what what?
I just That's why I took my time, And I
mean I approached every dunk. Did you plan did you
plan your dunks? I did have. I had a routine,
um that I want. So okay, let's just talk about
how my day went. Saturday. So Saturday happens, and and
(09:25):
I tell you, I don't know how I wanted. But
at the same time, when you're on that stage and
the moment you have to live in the moment. Uh,
Saturday happens, and we're going through all this stuff because
you still book through your meetings for Sunday, you know,
because they you know, you still have to shoot arounds
and all that stuff for a seven. But they give
you all your instructions on Saturday. Well, Thursday and then
Saturday we met with the team Bubba. So we get
down getting ready. I take my nap. I approached this
(09:48):
like it's a regular game. Really, I was serious about
this approach. It took my nap. Woke up. Now I'm
going down to find the driver to take us over
to Open because we stayed in San Francisco and we
had to go over to Oakla. So t Mac. There's
four of us total, Tea Mac, two of my friends,
and looking for the car. So we're getting down there.
Was supposed to meet a particular time. The cars nowhere
(10:08):
to be found. We've gone down every row asking people.
They're like, yeah, no, I'm here, wait for I'm waiting
for a wait for. Nobody said waiting for us. So
we talked our way into finally getting this one of
these guys to take us over it's like we just
need to drop drop us off, like I don't know
how no one because they were waiting for their particular
athlete already. I don't know where the heck my guy
(10:29):
was or our guy was because we're going over together. Nobody, no,
no idea. This is why you're one of the kindest
individuals been anyone else with a strong arm. I mean
we were, we were stressing, so mind you. So it's
me sitting in the middle. A guy here's probably two
seventy two eighty, My guy here's probably two seventy two eighty,
and then t Mac who's about six eight sixts in
the front, squished in the car going over there. He
(10:52):
finally through the all the All Star traffic, as you
know All Star can be brutal, finally get over to
Oakland and we get to the arena. When we got
into the arena, now Tea mats like because no, nope, nope,
I don't want to do it. Like we're arguing, arguing
about this the entire rife. It's no sense, Like it's
meant like we can't find our car, we're gonna we're late,
so we missed our practice time. So when once we
(11:14):
got to the to the arena, the practice gym at
Oracle we're supposed to go in. That's we had our
practice time. So while the three point contest is going
on and all the other activity, that's when you had
your practice time to fine tune the dunks that you
wanted to do well. When we got there, by the
time we would have gotten into the gym to start practicing,
our time would have been up. Now it's time to
(11:36):
get dressed to go get ready for the dunk contest.
So basically we missed it. We didn't get not a
chance to practice. So now te Max like, yeah, nothing,
So Tea Maks like, no, we're done. I'm not doing this.
I'm backing out. It's too late, like just too late
because you can't do it. So I mean, I'm now
I'm stressed. That's where this stress really took over, and
(11:57):
and and kind of just anxiety because it's like, let
me get the practice. Is yes, in retrospect, I was prepared.
It was I knew what I wanted to do is
just living a moment, but I'd like to be prepared
at the same time, and I didn't get to go
through the routine that I felt that I needed to
go through to be successful in this dunk like this
fine going through it. Watching three point contest, I couldn't
(12:18):
tell you who was shooting, who was in it. I
don't know because I'm still worried about I missed practice.
Look at the field in the NBA dot Com Slam
Dunk Tom Protestors Lottery. Who's I'm a Philadelphia Satiday Sectors,
Pray shimmickgrading from Rappers franchise, a rookie for the Rockets,
Vice cornor of the Toronto Rappers, Gary Stockhouse of the
(12:41):
Detroit Festons, and rookie Davis was a Jon Horns who
has the place Javison of the Golden State Warriors. Now
as we go out, we're doing the layup line. So
now in the layup line, getting warmed up for the
actual dunk contest had to be my practice time. But
we couldn't actually go out there and do crazy dumps
and grabbing rend that That's kind of what was the
(13:02):
rule there. So I'm just kind of jumping through, jumping
through the motions of things that I want to do,
and you know, just filling out, filling out, And then
I just had a moment where I just stopped and
looked at the in the crowd like prior to that,
and I said to myself, you know what, this is
not gonna work, meaning the routine that I was set
(13:23):
to do or the dumps that I want to do.
It's not good enough. It's not gonna win. To be fair,
it was a pretty intimidating panel of judges to impress.
And I look at the disturb wished panel of judges.
We have some Hall of famers. I'm upst the five
for Fowery it was George Ice Fan Gurvils. He took
of the Usty Thomas. I'd sayah, Thomas and our own
(13:46):
Can Smith. Hey, I'm ready over there, guys. I'm ready.
I'm excited about this. They brought the top contests back.
I was tired of. I mean, the three point shoot.
The contest is nice, two falls nice, but the dunk's
where is that? Baby? Well? You ever heard of a
get in the warm up? You know? I tell you,
I tell you what. The right here you can see
the electricity, what kid he's talking about? The players are
(14:07):
all lined up in their suits all around the thing.
Everybody's coming down to the floor. This field is one
of the best fields there's ever been, sebac Sin's Dominic
and Michael Jordan. Well, I personally think that the closest
one to Dominique at here with that question is Vince
Carter because of the excitement that he generates. His first
name is Vince, my dad's name is Vince. I'm going
with Vince Carter. Well. I know earlier I was predicting
(14:29):
other guys, but after talking with him, I didin't. The
biggest show off out there is Steve Francis and Rickey Davis.
It's close between those two. Tracy McGrady is another guy
with big hands, long arms. I'm going with Tracy McGrady.
I don't know, I just and who knows, but I'm like,
it's not going to win. It's not good enough. I
could feel it because the buzz in the in the air.
(14:50):
I tell you there, I was on ten. I was
like from being a kid to this moment, not even done,
like wearing a uniform and anymore, like I knew who
I was representing. I was represented Toronto. It was bigger
than that. Like I am here after all of these
years of taping dunk contests, going through shaking David Stern's
(15:11):
hand with the trophy, how like how it would smile,
how react all of these things, Like right at that moment,
I looked around like it's not good enough. But I
didn't know. I didn't have a backup plan. I don't know,
but that's not good enough. Whatever, it is just not
good enough. So now dunk contest starts, and I'm sitting
there like, oh my gosh, what what what are we
(15:33):
gonna do? So I'm trying to just think of things.
And when it was my turn, it's like I'm watching
I see guys dunking, and I'm like, okay, cool, what
am I going to do? Though, sweaty palms, all these things?
When we get back the dunk contest starts. In this
he is still trying to figure out what he is
going to do. M okay. So first Larry hughs misrus
(16:04):
his first attempt, and the second up was your cousin,
that's right, yeah too, Yeah, that's right Mac, you a
really really nice reverse appreciate grety w a way over.
And then Steve Francis had a big score on his
(16:27):
first attempt. I remember saying, oh, this young, this dude
not playing. I remember that and t Mac T mac
for all the crap that T Mack put me through.
And I say that me because I was getting him
to stay in the contest. He goes out there, who
(16:49):
didn't want to do this, by the way, pulled that
out the first dump, like just I'm like, oh my god,
here's a guy who doesn't want to be here and
he does that anyway. T mac told Cheryl Miller he
was saving his creativity. Cristy straight nuns like you said that.
You know that was all right, that was just the warm.
So I just want to make sure it went in.
You know, I got two more dunce left for the
(17:09):
first round, so I had to be you know, creative
on the first little but make sure it went in.
That was a motion problem into your Now, I'm much
to save it for the last lash, you dunce of
the half, So I'm gonna be real creative on that.
So y'all just say some keep that, y'all push on
your cousin. Oh no doubt he's gonna have it. So
what's going through you? Get up? You walk out, you
got no plan, You're getting set for your first dunk?
(17:31):
What's going through your head? I get up and I
walk out there and he gets to the ball, and
it felt like the ball was slippery. I mean, it
felt like it was straight out of the box. Steve
Francis agreed, Obviously you're not really happy with that. You
thought you could have caught a little further. The best
I could have been I could have caught it, you know,
but the ball kind of stepped out my hand. But
(17:52):
you know, I got Hopefully I'll make it to the
next round, and you know, advance, it's like, you know,
when you get that first ball, it's like I already
have sweedty palms, which is not good for a dunk contest.
The ball seems like it's too hard, too much bounce,
too slippery. I just all bad. So I'm trying to
walk it off and figure out what the heck I'm
going to do. So I'm gonna cut you off quick.
(18:12):
Did you see anyone you're still talking about looking around
feeling Was there any celebrities in the crowd? Was there
anyone that you you spotted out that you thought, mat
I can't believe they're in the building and get them
watch me. I can't believe were you even in the
moment to be able to realize that I remember seeing
something I couldn't tell you who you know, It's just
kind of like, how you doing. I'm locked in more So,
(18:34):
I remember that group of guys to the left of
the room KG White Chocolate, Jerome Williams, uh Antoine James,
and my teammate Ja Kid James Posey weber Shack was
on the other side with the big old camera. Like,
I remember seeing that group of guys down there, and
then there was the contestants either sitting on the bench
(18:56):
or Coatino mobile, and those guys were sitting on the
ground on the side of half court. I remember that,
all right, So you got a slippery ball and I'm
walking off like what the heck? So I said to myself,
I'm gonna do the reverse pre sixty women. I'm gonna
try that. That's what I'm gonna do. Now. I picked that,
but I didn't feel confident about it because I remember
(19:17):
in San Antonio, Tea Mac and I we're playing in
San Antonio, had a practice day. We're in their their
practice said, I think it's probably the old practice was
saying now because a long time ago we were in
there practicing and I was doing that first up and
could barely make it or getting hung as I was.
I was, I was turning around trying to find the
rim and wind mill pull either hit in the front
of the rim or hitting up the top of the
rim and just short or barely making it. And I
(19:40):
scratched that immediately. I was like, nope, I'm not using that.
And there was a couple of other dunks that I
could you know I was doing that. I chose that
now probably wouldn't have won for sure, but I chose
to do that dunk anyway. But I was so ampt
and so high I felt like I could jump over
the goal like I was just I'm here, I'm powered up,
(20:01):
I'm healthy. No injuries. Who I did have an injury
that played a lot into what I wanted to do
as well as far as I can't do so much
with my left hand because it was stitched up. Like
that was just the dumbest thing ever that how I
did it. But I'm sure you know that. So in
the weighting room lifting weights, and I remember doing curls.
I'll never get doing the curls on the bench, not
(20:22):
putting that it was a curl bar. It wasn't the
actually dumbbells. So the curl bar and I'm going to
put it down. For some dumb, stupid, odd reason, I
put when I'm putting the weights down, fingers out. My
right hand is outside of the bench, so it's plenty room,
so just drop your hands. My left hand, on the
other hand, it's not so when I dropped the weight,
(20:44):
all the pressure of the weight from the bar lands
on my my my I think it's my ring finger
or my middle finger. It's been so long. If you're
a little squeamish, you might want to fast forward thirty seconds.
But on the lands of my finger, the pressure explode,
explode and splits my hand in the fatty part is
hanging out of my finger. This is a week or two, Yes,
(21:06):
this is the week or two before the dunk contest.
So they take me from practice in my uniform in
Toronto in February, like I have like nothing, and they
have meeting to take you over there and and and
they gotta cut that the fatty part that's hanging out,
and stitched me up, wrap me up, and then I go.
So now I have no feeling in the fingers. So
(21:29):
if I touched like I remember the worst thing you
know you're talking to you had to take the elevator
up to our practice facility in in the arena. In
the arena, and if you're talking to somebody, I go
to push from my left hand, not thinking, and it
would kill me because I have no You take it
for granted, like the fatty part. You push, you feel nothing.
Well I didn't. I didn't have any of that, and
it would kill me. Is my middle finger, because I
could feel still and I remember now and so that
(21:55):
now we go. So I'm wrapping it up. And so
that played a part early, you know, just making sure
I had the right take that wasn't slippery if I'm
trying to rip the ball and all that stuff. So
now I do the dunk and and as I just
remember taking the one dribble, big exhale, two dribbles and
just took off and once I got up in the air,
you know, so you're doing it, I'm doing the reverse
(22:17):
three six, and I can see the rim and I'm
going and I could feel myself. You know, you can
you can feel. I know this sounds, it sounds weird,
so bear with me. And you said you probably know
this as a dunker. You go up. You can feel
yourself whether you're gonna jump super high or high enough
or not high enough. As I jumped in the air,
I was like, Okay, this feels good. And when I
(22:38):
got around, you know the most important thing, and I remembered,
and I feel like I'm thinking about this, like as
I'm dribbling to the goal in the air, I swear
it feels like I had that much time. But I remember,
like I said in the beginning, I wasn't getting around
fast enough to find the rim, and I was shortened
hanging myself every time. So I just made sure I
(22:59):
just floated high as I could and just make sure
I whipped my head around fast enough. But when I
remember whipping my head around fast enough and saw the rim,
I was like, oh, there's the rim right there. It
was like, there you are. And the rest was I mean,
it's just textbook. From there, it felt like it's just
an easy dump. Con with his frush shop Let's go home,
(23:25):
Let's go home, can't tell me let's go home, let's
go home. Let's go home. Hey, that is a reverse
P six he going it gets the grain. That is unbelievable.
Best building just exploded. I'm expecting Kenny to saying he
(23:48):
doubles ribbled on that book. Everybody didn't see you know
what I'm saying, let's just sign it said hold on,
but let's go on call to night. Let's see who's
going for second place. And I remember when I dumped it.
It ot so good and I was so empty ducking
the ball hitting the ground and just the excitement jumping
(24:08):
up again. I probably could have windmid of the ball
again from just hyped off my second jump. So if
you look at the windmill duck get hit the ground,
that turned around and like the rims right there again,
It's just like it was an unbelievable feeling because at
that moment, I said, they're in trouble because I'm making
dunks that I didn't feel good about, and I'm making
this up on the fly. I'm telling you a lot
(24:30):
of people thinking that might have done the best clock
How did you feel about? I felt good. I've done
about two or three times in my life before that.
I didn't practice. I just I just that was a winger.
It felt good. I didn't get any better than that.
I don't know that judges, uh, I have a type
of strech on my sleep. So one of the I
(24:51):
mean everyone everyone went nuts. What of that? I mean
everyone went nuts. I was so amped up, excited, like
I heard it, but I didn't hear like I was
just in the moment and I was just in like,
you know, they say your bubble, and you know when
we say our bubble, we make the bubble rather why
so you have some space? No, my bubble was like
(25:12):
literally outlining my body. And I was in the moment
and it was like, Okay, I got that one out
of the way, let's go. But so I took that
time between that dunk, but from the time I sat
down to my next dunk trying to figure out what
the heck come and do next. But I want to
talk to you about going against the grain, like the opposite,
because no one had really seen what made you one
(25:34):
come up with that. I felt like that had become
a signature for you. How much more challenges do you
think that that is? I mean, that's something that people,
that's something that when you see that, you think of you,
when you think of the stamp you put on that.
So for so long you see people doing you know,
and and there's always a fight about going to with
(25:56):
the grain. Is that really a three sixty? And it
was a whole Is that really a three? There isn't
one any And it was just going against the grain,
like and I'm gonna tell you this, and I'm gonna
go back and tell you what has happened to me
now since then with that dunk, So going the normal
way against people call it, I was like, Okay, everybody's
doing it, let's just change it up. Let's see if
I can go the other way. So for a long
time I just couldn't just get it right. I couldn't.
(26:19):
I just couldn't get the proper elevation. So once I
started understanding it and getting it and going against the
grain and doing it so much, I couldn't go the
regular way anymore. So it's so what I couldn't do
initially against the grain, I now can't do with the grain.
Like now if I really wouldn't, like you would never
(26:42):
even do it in the game. No, if I'm if
I'm in the game in a fast break, im if
you say do your stop textbook three sixty dunk, that's
what against the grain is, what that is? Like everybody,
if I tried to go the other way, I either
I would miss point blank because I've done it so
much till I retrained my mind on how that works
(27:04):
and how the optics working. And I just now, if
you asked me to do with the grain three sixty
or the regular way or whatever you choose to call it,
and I was like, no, I can't do it, Like
even so people, I can tell my story my secret now.
But people used to be impressed with me at an
older age during the three sixty. But that was comfortable.
(27:25):
That was my comfort zone. Like if if I tried
to do it, you said, if somebody says do it
three sixty, now you're thinking with the grain, that doesn't.
With the grain to me is the opposite the way,
and that's easier for me than the other way. Like
it was struggled, Like I really looked my age. When
we keep watching you your last few years of playing,
I mean that it was the insane part of this.
(27:45):
In the layoup line, I would do with the dunk
and I will always go against the grain because that
was routine for me as opposed to the other way.
Up now, when I told you that we missed our
practice time, we also missed the instruction of that. You
had to use a teammate for one dough. Let's get
(28:10):
to your cousin, because you talked about the ride there,
you talked about everything, the experience. Uh for for te
Max second dunk, you threw him the past. He got
a forty nine for a two handed windmill. As Vince Carter,
we'll work with Traci immigrated and I asked, Vince, I said,
what happened is that Tracy throws you a bad pass?
(28:31):
And what's gonna happen? He said, you know what, Kenny,
the best passes are bad passes on our leaks. What's again,
we Traci Gratty was a couple of a crust of dunce.
What was it like having this experience with him and
(28:52):
going through it with him? It was a great experience.
It was It was. It was the highs and loads
of you know, the highs and loads of going through
the dunk contest and giving people the behind the scenes
now of what we were going through. Now, when I
told you that we missed our practice time, we also
missed the instruction of that you had to use a
teammate for one dump. In the first round, each player
(29:15):
performs three dumps. One must be with a teammates a
new question. We did not know that. We didn't know.
We didn't practice it zero. He told me, hey, dropped
out here and I'm gonna do this whatever, and that's
how we get it. So we didn't get the practice.
(29:35):
Like we didn't get the practice, like like what are
we gonna do? Like I knew Grant Hill was there
with Stack, he had his teammates and whatnot, and Mobile
was there with Strinds, the Houston crew, so but we
didn't have I didn't have anybody. I gotta use him.
And he told me he's like a bouncedball about this
height and number to him. I was like, okay, And
(29:57):
so now now that's when I was nervous. That's I
was nervous because it's not about me, it's about him
and not messing up his dumb because you're trusting he's
trusting in me to make the perfect pass for him
to do what he needs to do. So that's when
I was more nervous than any of this. Is that
that moment bouncing the ball. It's like, don't get nervous
(30:17):
and bounced the ball too low or don't get over
the excited bouncing too high. You look crazy, and they
counted the attempt and he missed it and out. It
all comes back from me being that in the contest.
You know what I'm saying, being that I'm in contest.
You know, it's easy for people to say, oh, no,
he tried to sabotage T Max so he can win,
you know. And I wanted, you know, I wanted to
see him. I wanted us to battle, you know, because
(30:37):
that's what we were doing every day, whether it was
playing one on one where video games, whether it was dunking.
That's what we did. So now we get to take
it represented Toronto, take it to the big stage dunking,
which we could both do. That's all I cared about.
He didn't see it that way. He was like, yeah,
we could battle, but I know how this is gonna
get all right, it's second dunk. It was similar to
(31:01):
your first, but you were coming from under the ram.
What made that one special? So I wanted to show
different things on different ducts. So I wanted to to
show for that duff well, obviously the three the reverse
three six. I want to show being able to go
against the grain with height, with flare and difficulty with
this dunk. I wanted to kind of give I want
(31:23):
to show my ability to show my hang time while
still doing the windmill off one step. Here is a
second dunt, I Refrens Connors servo what the judgres having store? Well,
(31:49):
we just see a new balance. You know what's so
impressive you to see Kevin Garden, Jason kid Darrel arms
from all these guys can really run a jump there
and what they're seeing. So if I could explain that,
if I was able to bother me Kenney Smith, good
old Kenny, Yeah, he'said, well you should have done nut
(32:13):
dunk first carter finishers with a forty nine. Of the
reason is Kenny the only charge, not Juel Ward. What
are you sing? Because I told me set the president,
but the first one that was any other time because
he as a dunker. Yeah, I have still talk to
you because you know he's my Carolina guy and got
(32:36):
darn it Kenney Smith. But so my first junk. I
wanted to set the tone on how this is going tonight.
I just this is this is what we're doing to
night guys. This is what we're doing. I came here
to to win, not to participate, not to enjoy the festivities.
And you're to win. So that's why I chose the
(32:58):
reverse three sixty first. Then that was the first thing
and came in my mind too, honestly. Um, and then
from there, I just wanted to show different things. Now
if I set the tone kind of like what Michael
Jordan's would do or one of the things we used
to hear at Carolina's when opponents that's not in the
a CEC walking to the Dean Doome. You see all
that history and the Carolina Blue. The fear factor of
(33:20):
that alone, we were already up ten. And that's kind
of how my approach was for for this dunk contest.
I'm I'm set the tone. Yeah, you hear people talk
about and making me the favorite cold, but now you
get to see it and you got now you know,
oh no, he's serious about this. This is not a game, people,
this is not a game. So the second dunk, I
wanted to show that I could take one step from
behind the basket, elevate with distance going away from the
(33:43):
goal while doing a windmill going back in front of
the rim, and see and if we if we had
the option to explain what we're gonna do prior to it,
it would give more validity to the dunk because now
I'm telling you, like you you're looking at like just
thinking about it, like wait, but one step wind Mell
going away from the goal but finishing in front of
(34:04):
the gold looking at you know, and then you see it.
So that's the unfortunate side to that dunk. And Kitty
Smith felt like it wasn't as good as the first one. Yeah,
but it's giving you a different look. It's similar to yes,
but it's a different look because the first thump I
had the three sixties, but I had momentum, momentum. Now
I'm showing you that I'm doing something like that with
(34:24):
no momentum. I'm doing up one step, one dribble, one
step go, you know. So so that was a little frustrating,
but I still stayed in the moment because he wasn't
gonna blow my high like I was. I was up there,
so it was gonna take a lot to bring me down.
Remember when Vince spotted Kevin Garnett on the sidelines. Here's
Reggie theis talking with KG and see Webb. All right, guys,
(34:44):
I'm over here. You know, these guys over here are
filing themselves. They've got a show going on. Have you
ever seen the dunk like Vince Carter put on the
first one? I must how must have, man, Man, I
ain't ever seen thathing like that? See where my counterpart,
you haven't seen anything like that? Man, I've never seen
anything like that? Did the Three six Women? I was like,
(35:06):
what about Steve Francs from the Moon? Vince just had
so much to say about his dunks that we're gonna
have to split the show up into two parts. Will
wrap it up with part two next week, where Vince
will take us through his final three dunks of the contest,
(35:29):
tell us about his favorite moment of the night, and
talk about how he compares to the other great dunkers
in history. See you next week for the rest of
our Amazing Conversation with Vince Carter. NBA Flashback is a
production of I Heart Radio and the NBA. For more
podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
NBA Flashback is a production of iHeart Radio in the
NBA from the Toronto Raptors Clutter. It's all fun, lady
to each other. That is a reverse pretty six there going.
(00:24):
It gets the grain that is unbelievable. Everybody knows who
knows it's gonna be hard. The one that dunkines has
my best card any I've never seen it before. Rong,
I'm not sure the guy can't go into the rim
let purpose Michael moved. Somebody's coming to get your best cover.
(00:49):
Vinceanity was born twenty two years ago. I'm February twelve,
two thousand. Vince Carter changed the course of NBA history
with one epic dunk contest. We are honored to have
Vince on the show today to talk about how important
that night was to him, how it compares to the
(01:09):
other great dun contests, and give us the behind the
scenes stories that you haven't heard before. I'm Sarahkustack and
you're listening to NBA Flashback, the show that takes you
back to the greatest moments in NBA history, using archival
audio from the NBA as well as new interviews with
the players and the coaches who were in the building.
(01:30):
In this episode of NBA Flashback, we go back to
February twelve, two thousand, when the Y two K scare
ended up being no big deal, but Jennifer Lopez was
about to change the world by wearing a certain green
for Sacci dressed to the Grammys. Today, we are talking
with Air Canada himself eight time All Star Vince Carter
(01:53):
about the night in Oakland when he not only saved
the Dunk contests, but much like j Lo's Grammy dress,
he create did something that would set the Internet on
fire and people would still be talking about to this day.
The day before the contest, Vince talked to the media
at the hotel, and listen closely because, as we learned
during the show, Vince may not have been telling the
(02:15):
whole truth to the reporters. I have any tricks. I'm
just going to have fun. Man. It's just to do
the things that I know how to do. Man. Uh,
there's some things that I'm gonna probably try that I've
never tried before. And if I make it, I'm making it. Don't.
Oh well, no, that's how I see it. I'm just
gonna have fun, man. I got into have fun, not
to prove a point. First of all, Vince, thank you
(02:36):
so much for joining us. I appreciate it. You got
it all right. So take us back to the night
before the Dunk Contest February eleven, in your hotel in
San Francisco, probably hanging out with your cousin and then
teammate Tracy McGrady. What was going through your mind the
night before? So I was going through my mind is
excitement and of course me well, leading up to the
(02:58):
All Star Game, t MAC and I were invited, and
he started second guessing the fact that he didn't about going,
not for him being nervous. He's like, I'm playing, I'm
dunking for second place. It's like, I'm not gonna beat you. Me,
I had dreams of being in the NBA Dunk Contest
and we always talked about it leading up to it
(03:19):
that that that year, and I'm like, no, we're here.
We're not backing out. You're not backing out of this,
like this is this is it? So you know? And
so I had a routine of dunks that I wanted
to do and I'm like, okay, going through it like
I'm literally studying, like it's my mid terms. Of college
for college, like literally, like just you know, just because
(03:42):
I used to as a young kid, I used to
record the dunk contest and go back and playing. So
depending on if they're on the East and West coast
of me went on the West coast, being a Florida kid,
they got they were late, so my mom woul let
me watch some of it, not all of it. You know,
I didn't care about really everything else three point contests
and all that stuff. That Saturday cool, I'm here to
see the dunk contests, and I made sure I take them.
(04:03):
And I used to go back and studying and watch him,
and I watched them to see like what was this
guy thinking and why was he trying to do this?
What was he trying to accomplish or show the people
watching in this dunk? That's kind of what I looked
at the way I looked at it. So I will
always go back and just watching and watching tapes. And
after a while, if I popped this tape, that VHS tape,
now it's scrambled from rewinding it and past for it
(04:26):
so so so much so, you know, just thinking about
all of those times as a kid, talking about it,
reacting to it, in school the next day from what
we saw from I mean, you name it, JR. Ryder too,
Harold Miner, I mean, so many people, and we just
talked about it, and I remember saying, one day, I'm
gonna be there. I'm gonna be there, god willing, if
(04:46):
I can get into the n b A, I'm gonna
participate in the Dunk Contest. Like it was just like,
I want to get the NBA, I want to play,
but I want to be in the Dunk Contest. Like
at that time, that was end all be off for me.
So being getting drafted, its yes, step one is here,
like and then it was a lockout years so they
said no All Star games whatever. So I was just
kind of waiting, chumping at the bit, waiting for my
(05:08):
time and finally get there, and you know, you have
to go through all the other stuff. And I was
the leading vote getter that year as well, so it
was kind of all of the other things that were
going on with that. So it's kind of like the
All Star Game Saturday. I was like, Okay, yeah, that's
so far away. Who cares? Like Saturday? When can I practice?
When can I do this? You know that? And yeah,
it was it was tough to sleep at night. The
(05:28):
celebrities were out for All Star Saturday Night, and Reggie
Theis interviewed actor Michael Keaton before the contest started. Are
you gonna come to the Dunk Contest? Who's your favorite
the dunk contines, I'm liking Vince Carter a lot on
that one, but I think it's his cousin and plays
with him as his cousin. The places one looks hotly
sweet too, and I think, but I think it's I
(05:48):
think it's Vince. All right, we'll see Vince Carr. Alright, guys,
you heard it over here. So with that being said, though,
because you brought up a couple of things, the Dunk
Contest had kind of lost its luster. The NBA decided
not to have it. Nope, I didn't say. You said
they didn't have it. They didn't have it ninety eight
lockout in ninet. So not only was there some pressure,
(06:13):
but you were the overwhelming favorite to go along with it.
Did you feel some some nervousness, some just extra anxiety
because of that, because of all these factors coming in,
I was excited. I didn't even realize because you think
I came in and yes, there was no All Star
and all that stuff. So it was just a year
(06:34):
or so removed from the Dunk Contest prior to I
think Kobe one, and then it was the gap and
then coming back. So I was nervous for being on
the stage in the arena where I wanted to be
a part of for so many years. That's what I
was nervous about. I was overly excited, but I didn't
fear the pressure. I just want to go out there
and show people what I could do. I was, I
(06:55):
guess green, so green and just dumb enough where I
didn't like dumb like you're the favorite and saw this pressure.
I didn't. I didn't think about it like that. TNT
had a big crew covering the event. You know famous dunkers,
Marv Albert, Mike Fritello, Danny Ainge. They were on the
play by play, also assisted by former Dunk Contest participant
(07:17):
and current judge Kenny Smith. Welcome Old ca Althoritia of Albert,
Danny Age with biz Are Mike for Tello. A sensational
field coming up and they slam dunk competition certainly has
Carter of the Toronto Raptors is the favorite. The connecting
cage were all six contestants. Was there pressure on this carter?
Everyone seems to be picking hup to when they warned, well,
(07:39):
first of all, Kenny was a little bit excited. I
think he should be back in the competition this year.
But he's looking at me over there. He's judging, first
of all, Kenny North Carolina judge, North Carolina Ductor. He's
got to be the favorite for sure. But I don't
think there's any pressure on him. Marm. I mean, this
guy can dunk in his sleep. I'm thinking more so, like,
all right, I can't wait. I want to do all
my dunks at one time and just be done. Like
(07:59):
I was just so excited about it. So it's just
the pressures of I think I put more pressure on
myself not to miss dunks because one thing I couldn't
stand with missing dunks. You know, I worked so hard
and I had the ability to dunk for so many
years of my life, and I couldn't stand missing dunks,
whether it was in game, trying to dunk over somebody,
around somebody, whatever the case may be. And I still
(08:22):
hold on to missing the I still hold on the
missing that dunk against Duke off the backboard from Edd Cota.
And this is in college. Obviously, this is still this
is still sitting in your mind. You're still thinking about that.
I wanted that chance that happened, and I kind of
got a small rendition from j K thrown off the
(08:42):
backboard versus Clippers and another team, but it wasn't the same.
But you know, so when I talk to think about
dunking and dunks that I've missed, that is by far
number one. And I didn't want to miss a dunk.
I wanted to go through this and have his flawless
of a performance, whether it was a eas and and
and everyone enjoyed it or not, at least I could
say I did miss it dunk. And you know, if
(09:05):
the dunks weren't to the standards of everybody, so what what?
I just That's why I took my time, And I
mean I approached every dunk. Did you plan did you
plan your dunks? I did have. I had a routine,
um that I want. So okay, let's just talk about
how my day went. Saturday. So Saturday happens, and and
(09:25):
I tell you, I don't know how I wanted. But
at the same time, when you're on that stage and
the moment you have to live in the moment. Uh,
Saturday happens, and we're going through all this stuff because
you still book through your meetings for Sunday, you know,
because they you know, you still have to shoot arounds
and all that stuff for a seven. But they give
you all your instructions on Saturday. Well, Thursday and then
Saturday we met with the team Bubba. So we get
down getting ready. I take my nap. I approached this
(09:48):
like it's a regular game. Really, I was serious about
this approach. It took my nap. Woke up. Now I'm
going down to find the driver to take us over
to Open because we stayed in San Francisco and we
had to go over to Oakla. So t Mac. There's
four of us total, Tea Mac, two of my friends,
and looking for the car. So we're getting down there.
Was supposed to meet a particular time. The cars nowhere
(10:08):
to be found. We've gone down every row asking people.
They're like, yeah, no, I'm here, wait for I'm waiting
for a wait for. Nobody said waiting for us. So
we talked our way into finally getting this one of
these guys to take us over it's like we just
need to drop drop us off, like I don't know
how no one because they were waiting for their particular
athlete already. I don't know where the heck my guy
(10:29):
was or our guy was because we're going over together. Nobody, no,
no idea. This is why you're one of the kindest
individuals been anyone else with a strong arm. I mean
we were, we were stressing, so mind you. So it's
me sitting in the middle. A guy here's probably two
seventy two eighty, My guy here's probably two seventy two eighty,
and then t Mac who's about six eight sixts in
the front, squished in the car going over there. He
(10:52):
finally through the all the All Star traffic, as you
know All Star can be brutal, finally get over to
Oakland and we get to the arena. When we got
into the arena, now Tea mats like because no, nope, nope,
I don't want to do it. Like we're arguing, arguing
about this the entire rife. It's no sense, Like it's
meant like we can't find our car, we're gonna we're late,
so we missed our practice time. So when once we
(11:14):
got to the to the arena, the practice gym at
Oracle we're supposed to go in. That's we had our
practice time. So while the three point contest is going
on and all the other activity, that's when you had
your practice time to fine tune the dunks that you
wanted to do well. When we got there, by the
time we would have gotten into the gym to start practicing,
our time would have been up. Now it's time to
(11:36):
get dressed to go get ready for the dunk contest.
So basically we missed it. We didn't get not a
chance to practice. So now te Max like, yeah, nothing,
So Tea Maks like, no, we're done. I'm not doing this.
I'm backing out. It's too late, like just too late
because you can't do it. So I mean, I'm now
I'm stressed. That's where this stress really took over, and
(11:57):
and and kind of just anxiety because it's like, let
me get the practice. Is yes, in retrospect, I was prepared.
It was I knew what I wanted to do is
just living a moment, but I'd like to be prepared
at the same time, and I didn't get to go
through the routine that I felt that I needed to
go through to be successful in this dunk like this
fine going through it. Watching three point contest, I couldn't
(12:18):
tell you who was shooting, who was in it. I
don't know because I'm still worried about I missed practice.
Look at the field in the NBA dot Com Slam
Dunk Tom Protestors Lottery. Who's I'm a Philadelphia Satiday Sectors,
Pray shimmickgrading from Rappers franchise, a rookie for the Rockets,
Vice cornor of the Toronto Rappers, Gary Stockhouse of the
(12:41):
Detroit Festons, and rookie Davis was a Jon Horns who
has the place Javison of the Golden State Warriors. Now
as we go out, we're doing the layup line. So
now in the layup line, getting warmed up for the
actual dunk contest had to be my practice time. But
we couldn't actually go out there and do crazy dumps
and grabbing rend that That's kind of what was the
(13:02):
rule there. So I'm just kind of jumping through, jumping
through the motions of things that I want to do,
and you know, just filling out, filling out, And then
I just had a moment where I just stopped and
looked at the in the crowd like prior to that,
and I said to myself, you know what, this is
not gonna work, meaning the routine that I was set
(13:23):
to do or the dumps that I want to do.
It's not good enough. It's not gonna win. To be fair,
it was a pretty intimidating panel of judges to impress.
And I look at the disturb wished panel of judges.
We have some Hall of famers. I'm upst the five
for Fowery it was George Ice Fan Gurvils. He took
of the Usty Thomas. I'd sayah, Thomas and our own
(13:46):
Can Smith. Hey, I'm ready over there, guys. I'm ready.
I'm excited about this. They brought the top contests back.
I was tired of. I mean, the three point shoot.
The contest is nice, two falls nice, but the dunk's
where is that? Baby? Well? You ever heard of a
get in the warm up? You know? I tell you,
I tell you what. The right here you can see
the electricity, what kid he's talking about? The players are
(14:07):
all lined up in their suits all around the thing.
Everybody's coming down to the floor. This field is one
of the best fields there's ever been, sebac Sin's Dominic
and Michael Jordan. Well, I personally think that the closest
one to Dominique at here with that question is Vince
Carter because of the excitement that he generates. His first
name is Vince, my dad's name is Vince. I'm going
with Vince Carter. Well. I know earlier I was predicting
(14:29):
other guys, but after talking with him, I didin't. The
biggest show off out there is Steve Francis and Rickey Davis.
It's close between those two. Tracy McGrady is another guy
with big hands, long arms. I'm going with Tracy McGrady.
I don't know, I just and who knows, but I'm like,
it's not going to win. It's not good enough. I
could feel it because the buzz in the in the air.
(14:50):
I tell you there, I was on ten. I was
like from being a kid to this moment, not even done,
like wearing a uniform and anymore, like I knew who
I was representing. I was represented Toronto. It was bigger
than that. Like I am here after all of these
years of taping dunk contests, going through shaking David Stern's
(15:11):
hand with the trophy, how like how it would smile,
how react all of these things, Like right at that moment,
I looked around like it's not good enough. But I
didn't know. I didn't have a backup plan. I don't know,
but that's not good enough. Whatever, it is just not
good enough. So now dunk contest starts, and I'm sitting
there like, oh my gosh, what what what are we
(15:33):
gonna do? So I'm trying to just think of things.
And when it was my turn, it's like I'm watching
I see guys dunking, and I'm like, okay, cool, what
am I going to do? Though, sweaty palms, all these things?
When we get back the dunk contest starts. In this
he is still trying to figure out what he is
going to do. M okay. So first Larry hughs misrus
(16:04):
his first attempt, and the second up was your cousin,
that's right, yeah too, Yeah, that's right Mac, you a
really really nice reverse appreciate grety w a way over.
And then Steve Francis had a big score on his
(16:27):
first attempt. I remember saying, oh, this young, this dude
not playing. I remember that and t Mac T mac
for all the crap that T Mack put me through.
And I say that me because I was getting him
to stay in the contest. He goes out there, who
(16:49):
didn't want to do this, by the way, pulled that
out the first dump, like just I'm like, oh my god,
here's a guy who doesn't want to be here and
he does that anyway. T mac told Cheryl Miller he
was saving his creativity. Cristy straight nuns like you said that.
You know that was all right, that was just the warm.
So I just want to make sure it went in.
You know, I got two more dunce left for the
(17:09):
first round, so I had to be you know, creative
on the first little but make sure it went in.
That was a motion problem into your Now, I'm much
to save it for the last lash, you dunce of
the half, So I'm gonna be real creative on that.
So y'all just say some keep that, y'all push on
your cousin. Oh no doubt he's gonna have it. So
what's going through you? Get up? You walk out, you
got no plan, You're getting set for your first dunk?
(17:31):
What's going through your head? I get up and I
walk out there and he gets to the ball, and
it felt like the ball was slippery. I mean, it
felt like it was straight out of the box. Steve
Francis agreed, Obviously you're not really happy with that. You
thought you could have caught a little further. The best
I could have been I could have caught it, you know,
but the ball kind of stepped out my hand. But
(17:52):
you know, I got Hopefully I'll make it to the
next round, and you know, advance, it's like, you know,
when you get that first ball, it's like I already
have sweedty palms, which is not good for a dunk contest.
The ball seems like it's too hard, too much bounce,
too slippery. I just all bad. So I'm trying to
walk it off and figure out what the heck I'm
going to do. So I'm gonna cut you off quick.
(18:12):
Did you see anyone you're still talking about looking around
feeling Was there any celebrities in the crowd? Was there
anyone that you you spotted out that you thought, mat
I can't believe they're in the building and get them
watch me. I can't believe were you even in the
moment to be able to realize that I remember seeing
something I couldn't tell you who you know, It's just
kind of like, how you doing. I'm locked in more So,
(18:34):
I remember that group of guys to the left of
the room KG White Chocolate, Jerome Williams, uh Antoine James,
and my teammate Ja Kid James Posey weber Shack was
on the other side with the big old camera. Like,
I remember seeing that group of guys down there, and
then there was the contestants either sitting on the bench
(18:56):
or Coatino mobile, and those guys were sitting on the
ground on the side of half court. I remember that,
all right, So you got a slippery ball and I'm
walking off like what the heck? So I said to myself,
I'm gonna do the reverse pre sixty women. I'm gonna
try that. That's what I'm gonna do. Now. I picked that,
but I didn't feel confident about it because I remember
(19:17):
in San Antonio, Tea Mac and I we're playing in
San Antonio, had a practice day. We're in their their
practice said, I think it's probably the old practice was
saying now because a long time ago we were in
there practicing and I was doing that first up and
could barely make it or getting hung as I was.
I was, I was turning around trying to find the
rim and wind mill pull either hit in the front
of the rim or hitting up the top of the
rim and just short or barely making it. And I
(19:40):
scratched that immediately. I was like, nope, I'm not using that.
And there was a couple of other dunks that I
could you know I was doing that. I chose that
now probably wouldn't have won for sure, but I chose
to do that dunk anyway. But I was so ampt
and so high I felt like I could jump over
the goal like I was just I'm here, I'm powered up,
(20:01):
I'm healthy. No injuries. Who I did have an injury
that played a lot into what I wanted to do
as well as far as I can't do so much
with my left hand because it was stitched up. Like
that was just the dumbest thing ever that how I
did it. But I'm sure you know that. So in
the weighting room lifting weights, and I remember doing curls.
I'll never get doing the curls on the bench, not
(20:22):
putting that it was a curl bar. It wasn't the
actually dumbbells. So the curl bar and I'm going to
put it down. For some dumb, stupid, odd reason, I
put when I'm putting the weights down, fingers out. My
right hand is outside of the bench, so it's plenty room,
so just drop your hands. My left hand, on the
other hand, it's not so when I dropped the weight,
(20:44):
all the pressure of the weight from the bar lands
on my my my I think it's my ring finger
or my middle finger. It's been so long. If you're
a little squeamish, you might want to fast forward thirty seconds.
But on the lands of my finger, the pressure explode,
explode and splits my hand in the fatty part is
hanging out of my finger. This is a week or two, Yes,
(21:06):
this is the week or two before the dunk contest.
So they take me from practice in my uniform in
Toronto in February, like I have like nothing, and they
have meeting to take you over there and and and
they gotta cut that the fatty part that's hanging out,
and stitched me up, wrap me up, and then I go.
So now I have no feeling in the fingers. So
(21:29):
if I touched like I remember the worst thing you
know you're talking to you had to take the elevator
up to our practice facility in in the arena. In
the arena, and if you're talking to somebody, I go
to push from my left hand, not thinking, and it
would kill me because I have no You take it
for granted, like the fatty part. You push, you feel nothing.
Well I didn't. I didn't have any of that, and
it would kill me. Is my middle finger, because I
could feel still and I remember now and so that
(21:55):
now we go. So I'm wrapping it up. And so
that played a part early, you know, just making sure
I had the right take that wasn't slippery if I'm
trying to rip the ball and all that stuff. So
now I do the dunk and and as I just
remember taking the one dribble, big exhale, two dribbles and
just took off and once I got up in the air,
you know, so you're doing it, I'm doing the reverse
(22:17):
three six, and I can see the rim and I'm
going and I could feel myself. You know, you can
you can feel. I know this sounds, it sounds weird,
so bear with me. And you said you probably know
this as a dunker. You go up. You can feel
yourself whether you're gonna jump super high or high enough
or not high enough. As I jumped in the air,
I was like, Okay, this feels good. And when I
(22:38):
got around, you know the most important thing, and I remembered,
and I feel like I'm thinking about this, like as
I'm dribbling to the goal in the air, I swear
it feels like I had that much time. But I remember,
like I said in the beginning, I wasn't getting around
fast enough to find the rim, and I was shortened
hanging myself every time. So I just made sure I
(22:59):
just floated high as I could and just make sure
I whipped my head around fast enough. But when I
remember whipping my head around fast enough and saw the rim,
I was like, oh, there's the rim right there. It
was like, there you are. And the rest was I mean,
it's just textbook. From there, it felt like it's just
an easy dump. Con with his frush shop Let's go home,
(23:25):
Let's go home, can't tell me let's go home, let's
go home. Let's go home. Hey, that is a reverse
P six he going it gets the grain. That is unbelievable.
Best building just exploded. I'm expecting Kenny to saying he
(23:48):
doubles ribbled on that book. Everybody didn't see you know
what I'm saying, let's just sign it said hold on,
but let's go on call to night. Let's see who's
going for second place. And I remember when I dumped it.
It ot so good and I was so empty ducking
the ball hitting the ground and just the excitement jumping
(24:08):
up again. I probably could have windmid of the ball
again from just hyped off my second jump. So if
you look at the windmill duck get hit the ground,
that turned around and like the rims right there again,
It's just like it was an unbelievable feeling because at
that moment, I said, they're in trouble because I'm making
dunks that I didn't feel good about, and I'm making
this up on the fly. I'm telling you a lot
(24:30):
of people thinking that might have done the best clock
How did you feel about? I felt good. I've done
about two or three times in my life before that.
I didn't practice. I just I just that was a winger.
It felt good. I didn't get any better than that.
I don't know that judges, uh, I have a type
of strech on my sleep. So one of the I
(24:51):
mean everyone everyone went nuts. What of that? I mean
everyone went nuts. I was so amped up, excited, like
I heard it, but I didn't hear like I was
just in the moment and I was just in like,
you know, they say your bubble, and you know when
we say our bubble, we make the bubble rather why
so you have some space? No, my bubble was like
(25:12):
literally outlining my body. And I was in the moment
and it was like, Okay, I got that one out
of the way, let's go. But so I took that
time between that dunk, but from the time I sat
down to my next dunk trying to figure out what
the heck come and do next. But I want to
talk to you about going against the grain, like the opposite,
because no one had really seen what made you one
(25:34):
come up with that. I felt like that had become
a signature for you. How much more challenges do you
think that that is? I mean, that's something that people,
that's something that when you see that, you think of you,
when you think of the stamp you put on that.
So for so long you see people doing you know,
and and there's always a fight about going to with
(25:56):
the grain. Is that really a three sixty? And it
was a whole Is that really a three? There isn't
one any And it was just going against the grain,
like and I'm gonna tell you this, and I'm gonna
go back and tell you what has happened to me
now since then with that dunk, So going the normal
way against people call it, I was like, Okay, everybody's
doing it, let's just change it up. Let's see if
I can go the other way. So for a long
time I just couldn't just get it right. I couldn't.
(26:19):
I just couldn't get the proper elevation. So once I
started understanding it and getting it and going against the
grain and doing it so much, I couldn't go the
regular way anymore. So it's so what I couldn't do
initially against the grain, I now can't do with the grain.
Like now if I really wouldn't, like you would never
(26:42):
even do it in the game. No, if I'm if
I'm in the game in a fast break, im if
you say do your stop textbook three sixty dunk, that's
what against the grain is, what that is? Like everybody,
if I tried to go the other way, I either
I would miss point blank because I've done it so
much till I retrained my mind on how that works
(27:04):
and how the optics working. And I just now, if
you asked me to do with the grain three sixty
or the regular way or whatever you choose to call it,
and I was like, no, I can't do it, Like
even so people, I can tell my story my secret now.
But people used to be impressed with me at an
older age during the three sixty. But that was comfortable.
(27:25):
That was my comfort zone. Like if if I tried
to do it, you said, if somebody says do it
three sixty, now you're thinking with the grain, that doesn't.
With the grain to me is the opposite the way,
and that's easier for me than the other way. Like
it was struggled, Like I really looked my age. When
we keep watching you your last few years of playing,
I mean that it was the insane part of this.
(27:45):
In the layoup line, I would do with the dunk
and I will always go against the grain because that
was routine for me as opposed to the other way.
Up now, when I told you that we missed our
practice time, we also missed the instruction of that. You
had to use a teammate for one dough. Let's get
(28:10):
to your cousin, because you talked about the ride there,
you talked about everything, the experience. Uh for for te
Max second dunk, you threw him the past. He got
a forty nine for a two handed windmill. As Vince Carter,
we'll work with Traci immigrated and I asked, Vince, I said,
what happened is that Tracy throws you a bad pass?
(28:31):
And what's gonna happen? He said, you know what, Kenny,
the best passes are bad passes on our leaks. What's again,
we Traci Gratty was a couple of a crust of dunce.
What was it like having this experience with him and
(28:52):
going through it with him? It was a great experience.
It was It was. It was the highs and loads
of you know, the highs and loads of going through
the dunk contest and giving people the behind the scenes
now of what we were going through. Now, when I
told you that we missed our practice time, we also
missed the instruction of that you had to use a
teammate for one dump. In the first round, each player
(29:15):
performs three dumps. One must be with a teammates a
new question. We did not know that. We didn't know.
We didn't practice it zero. He told me, hey, dropped
out here and I'm gonna do this whatever, and that's
how we get it. So we didn't get the practice.
(29:35):
Like we didn't get the practice, like like what are
we gonna do? Like I knew Grant Hill was there
with Stack, he had his teammates and whatnot, and Mobile
was there with Strinds, the Houston crew, so but we
didn't have I didn't have anybody. I gotta use him.
And he told me he's like a bouncedball about this
height and number to him. I was like, okay, And
(29:57):
so now now that's when I was nervous. That's I
was nervous because it's not about me, it's about him
and not messing up his dumb because you're trusting he's
trusting in me to make the perfect pass for him
to do what he needs to do. So that's when
I was more nervous than any of this. Is that
that moment bouncing the ball. It's like, don't get nervous
(30:17):
and bounced the ball too low or don't get over
the excited bouncing too high. You look crazy, and they
counted the attempt and he missed it and out. It
all comes back from me being that in the contest.
You know what I'm saying, being that I'm in contest.
You know, it's easy for people to say, oh, no,
he tried to sabotage T Max so he can win,
you know. And I wanted, you know, I wanted to
see him. I wanted us to battle, you know, because
(30:37):
that's what we were doing every day, whether it was
playing one on one where video games, whether it was dunking.
That's what we did. So now we get to take
it represented Toronto, take it to the big stage dunking,
which we could both do. That's all I cared about.
He didn't see it that way. He was like, yeah,
we could battle, but I know how this is gonna
get all right, it's second dunk. It was similar to
(31:01):
your first, but you were coming from under the ram.
What made that one special? So I wanted to show
different things on different ducts. So I wanted to to
show for that duff well, obviously the three the reverse
three six. I want to show being able to go
against the grain with height, with flare and difficulty with
this dunk. I wanted to kind of give I want
(31:23):
to show my ability to show my hang time while
still doing the windmill off one step. Here is a
second dunt, I Refrens Connors servo what the judgres having store? Well,
(31:49):
we just see a new balance. You know what's so
impressive you to see Kevin Garden, Jason kid Darrel arms
from all these guys can really run a jump there
and what they're seeing. So if I could explain that,
if I was able to bother me Kenney Smith, good
old Kenny, Yeah, he'said, well you should have done nut
(32:13):
dunk first carter finishers with a forty nine. Of the
reason is Kenny the only charge, not Juel Ward. What
are you sing? Because I told me set the president,
but the first one that was any other time because
he as a dunker. Yeah, I have still talk to
you because you know he's my Carolina guy and got
(32:36):
darn it Kenney Smith. But so my first junk. I
wanted to set the tone on how this is going tonight.
I just this is this is what we're doing to
night guys. This is what we're doing. I came here
to to win, not to participate, not to enjoy the festivities.
And you're to win. So that's why I chose the
(32:58):
reverse three sixty first. Then that was the first thing
and came in my mind too, honestly. Um, and then
from there, I just wanted to show different things. Now
if I set the tone kind of like what Michael
Jordan's would do or one of the things we used
to hear at Carolina's when opponents that's not in the
a CEC walking to the Dean Doome. You see all
that history and the Carolina Blue. The fear factor of
(33:20):
that alone, we were already up ten. And that's kind
of how my approach was for for this dunk contest.
I'm I'm set the tone. Yeah, you hear people talk
about and making me the favorite cold, but now you
get to see it and you got now you know,
oh no, he's serious about this. This is not a game, people,
this is not a game. So the second dunk, I
wanted to show that I could take one step from
behind the basket, elevate with distance going away from the
(33:43):
goal while doing a windmill going back in front of
the rim, and see and if we if we had
the option to explain what we're gonna do prior to it,
it would give more validity to the dunk because now
I'm telling you, like you you're looking at like just
thinking about it, like wait, but one step wind Mell
going away from the goal but finishing in front of
(34:04):
the gold looking at you know, and then you see it.
So that's the unfortunate side to that dunk. And Kitty
Smith felt like it wasn't as good as the first one. Yeah,
but it's giving you a different look. It's similar to yes,
but it's a different look because the first thump I
had the three sixties, but I had momentum, momentum. Now
I'm showing you that I'm doing something like that with
(34:24):
no momentum. I'm doing up one step, one dribble, one
step go, you know. So so that was a little frustrating,
but I still stayed in the moment because he wasn't
gonna blow my high like I was. I was up there,
so it was gonna take a lot to bring me down.
Remember when Vince spotted Kevin Garnett on the sidelines. Here's
Reggie theis talking with KG and see Webb. All right, guys,
(34:44):
I'm over here. You know, these guys over here are
filing themselves. They've got a show going on. Have you
ever seen the dunk like Vince Carter put on the
first one? I must how must have, man, Man, I
ain't ever seen thathing like that? See where my counterpart,
you haven't seen anything like that? Man, I've never seen
anything like that? Did the Three six Women? I was like,
(35:06):
what about Steve Francs from the Moon? Vince just had
so much to say about his dunks that we're gonna
have to split the show up into two parts. Will
wrap it up with part two next week, where Vince
will take us through his final three dunks of the contest,
(35:29):
tell us about his favorite moment of the night, and
talk about how he compares to the other great dunkers
in history. See you next week for the rest of
our Amazing Conversation with Vince Carter. NBA Flashback is a
production of I Heart Radio and the NBA. For more
podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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