By Bobby Kirschenbaum
Mason Plumlee’s miserable week began in Washington D.C. in a game against the Wizards. Brooklyn had come into the game on a nice 3 game winnings streak, inching in on the 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, but had 8 straight away games to prepare for. And indeed, the Nets were up for a rude awakening– the moment the buzzer sounded, it was all Wizards. They came out and absolutely dismantled the Nets in a 114-77 blowout. The Nets had to just shake it off and get ready for the next game of their road trip against the Bucks two days later. But once again, the Nets had been defeated, this time in a closer contest by a score of 103-97. Now, the Nets had to really shake it off and get their game faces on for a duel against the Grizzlies in Memphis just 24 hours later. Although the Nets had a pretty nice shooting night overall, the presence of the twin towers in Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol down low was too much for Mason Plumlee, as they roasted him for 33 points and 19 rebounds in a 95-86 victory. Three straight games the big men of these teams have come alive and cooked Brooklyn’s Plumlee, along with Garnett and Lopez under the boards and in the paint. The Nets will certainly need to regroup after the break, as they still have 5 games left on this long and so far disastrous road trip.
Then, the time finally came: NBA Allstar Weekend 2015, live from New York. On a weekend where all the greatest players in the league come to New York to play in the big game, there are, of course, the entertaining events that occur on Friday and Saturday. One of those events, around since 1984, is the dunk contest. From Michael Jordan, to Dominique Wilkins, all the way down to Nate Robinson, all players from around the league can participate, if chosen. This year, the field consisted of Giannis Anteokumnpto of the Bucks, Victor Oladipo of the Magic, Zach Lavine of the Wolves, and Plumlee, with a chance to give the host city something to cheer for. But in a night expected to be thunderous and eventful, Mason Plumlee was the ultimate letdown, as his two dunks combined for just 76, (a 40, followed by a 36). In his first round, Plumlee failed his first two attempts miserably, which led to his final attempt being a feeble backwards reverse. In his second dunk, Plumlee brought out his 7 foot brother to jump over and slam. Sounds impressive on paper, doesn’t it? But no, once again Plumlee brought the Brooklyn crowd to utter sighs of disappointment. When he jumped, he lamely pushed his brother down at least 1 foot. The judges certainly understood this, as they accompanied his dunk with a score of just 36, eliminating him from contention from the second round. He certainly proved the movie “White Men Can’t Jump” to be true, in this case.
Hopefully for Brooklyn fans, Mason Plumlee will shake this disastrous week off and continue his good season to help Brooklyn push for the 8 seed in the playoffs. As for the dunk contest, hopefully we will never see you again, Mr. Plumlee. The honorable distinction of Disappointment of the Week is all yours.