Jordan vs Nique! Zach LaVine vs Aaron Gordon! There have been some great dunk contest duels in the past but none can compete with the greatest dunker of all-time (Vince Carter) going against...The Truth (Paul Pierce)?! OK, I'm obviously kidding and that statement couldn't be any further from the truth. But, in 1995, those two NBA greats -- now pushing 40 -- did face off against each other during the McDonalds All-American dunk contest.
You are probably trying to picture Pierce -- not known for having hops, despite having a few nice posters throughout his near two decades in the NBA -- competing against vintage Vinsanity in the 2000 dunk contest, where Carter introduced the off two-feet-between-the-legs dunk, the 360 windmill and the elbow hang (Honey Dip) to the masses. If they faced off at that event, Pierce probably would have looked worse than Jerry Stackhouse, who drew the shortest straw and had the pleasure of going after Vince in the epic contest.
Lucky for Pierce, Vince didn't pull out anything too spectacular to win this contest in front of Pierce's future Celtics teammate Kevin Garnett and KG's future Wolves' teammate Stephon Marbury. But, in the mid-90s, when a simple between the legs dunk was an automatic 50, those Carter dunks -- especially his power windmills -- were probably still good enough to beat a few champs like Baby Jordan, JR Rider and definitely Kobe Bryant (Darvin Ham was robbed) in a NBA dunk contest.
BEST HIGH SCHOOL DUNKER EVER?
If you have any doubts about Vince being the best high school dunker ever, keep in mind in a 1999 interview by Kenny Smith, Vince was asked if his dunks were better now or better then and he replied: "better then!"
Here's a few of those "better then" dunks from his prep days and believe me (I've been following his basketball career since his sophomore year), these dunks don't do him justice. He was so crazy in high school, people in Daytona Beach were selling a Vince Carter highlight tape on VHS called Come Fly With Me Part 2!
