NOTES: ALL-STAR DUNKFEST DUMPED.

Byline: Associated Press 

The slam-dunk contest is going the way of short shorts, the two-handed set shot and Latrell Sprewell - out of the league.

The NBA has decided to discard the high-flying competition that once was the highlight of All-Star Saturday.

It will be replaced by an event called ``2-ball'' that will team one NBA and one WNBA player from the same city in a shooting contest in which points are awarded for shots taken from different spots on the court.

``It's a big change. The NBA slam-dunk contest is kind of a tradition, but it's been down in the past few years and the competitors have not stepped up,'' said Kobe Bryant, who won the dunk contest last season in Cleveland.

All-Star Weekend is being held at Madison Square Garden this season and there will be no chance for someone to leap into the national spotlight the way Brent Barry did two years ago or Spud Webb did more than a decade ago.

Dunking, apparently, isn't what it once was.

``For whatever reason, the competition has been down,'' Bryant said. ``So I think a little change right now would be appropriate. But in a couple of years, they'll probably go back to it.''

The NBA has been tinkering with the dunk contest for the past couple of years, changing the format in an effort to spice up a competition that has not been as riveting as it was back in the old days.

When Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan engaged in their epic dunk-off in 1985, the idea was relatively new. It had been copied from the old ABA, a league that was a trendsetter with the 3-point line, dancing girls and, of course, the slam-dunk contest at halftime of the All-Star game.

The inaugural dunk contest was held in 1976 at the ABA's All-Star game in Denver and was called by Sports Illustrated ``the best halftime innovation since the restroom.'' There were five competitors in the first contest - Julius Erving, Larry Kenon, Artis Gilmore, David Thompson and George Gervin - and the top prize was $1,000 and a stereo system.

Erving won it with a dunk in which he leaped from the foul line - a move later copied by Michael Jordan and Barry.

The contest lost some of its luster over the years, even with the prize money rising to $20,000, because of a growing sentiment that all the great dunks had been done.

``It was the same dunk over and over,'' Charles Barkley said.

The league plans to announce it's ``2-ball'' plans Wednesday.

Iverson punished: The Philadelphia 76ers suspended point guard Allen Iverson for Monday night's game against the Boston Celtics for an unspecified violation of team rules.

The team's leading scorer, Iverson is averaging 21.4 points, 6.5 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 2.47 steals, which ranks second in the league behind Cleveland's Brevin Knight.

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Photo

Photo: The Lakers' Kobe Bryant, shown making one of his winning jams last year, will miss the slam-dunk contest at the NBA All-Star weekend.

Associated Press