LaVine’s array of dunks while gliding from the free throw line, and Gordon’s dunks while jumping over the Magic mascot were something we’ve never seen before.
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Gordon finished as the runner-up. He got another assist from Stuff on the next one, leaping high to take the ball, putting it under his legs – almost in a sitting position in midair – and slamming it down with his left hand. But then Gordon with his prop mascot and Lavine with his doing a LOT more with the Jordan dunk than Jordan ever did… well, this was a classic duel. “We always go against each other in practice, so it’s cool to do it on a real stage”, Thompson said. That surpassed Drummond’s first dunk, which earned a score of 36 after he twice missed on between-the-legs reverse windmills after catching baseline lob passes.
LaVine tied Gordon again, forcing one more tiebreaker.
Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts. He also grabbed the ball out of a spinning Stuff’s hand and threw down a huge 360 to open the final round.
The judges for the contest were hall of famer George Gervin, Dikembe Mutombo, Tracy McGrady, Shaquille O’Neal and Magic Johnson.
It was an impressive dunk, but it wasn’t as impressive as LaVine’s. He says the goal is to get a flawless score of all 50s this year. It looked effortless and intricate all at the same time. Stuff stood under the hoop with the ball on its head. LaVine took advantage of the fact he can jump out, and not just up.
Gordon’s teammate Mario Hezonja walked onto the court and congratulated him. Gordon put up 49 points, with only Shaq’s score of 9 denying him a flawless 50.
ZACH’S BACK: The slam dunk contest has largely become a one-and-done event, but Minnesota’s Zach LaVine is back for a chance to repeat after his high-flying performance previous year in Brooklyn.
Before Saturday, only three people had won the dunk contest in back-to-back years: Michael Jordan (1987-88), Jason Richardson (2002-03) and Nate Robinson (2009-10).
He has started at power forward in the Magic’s last 11 games. Barton had a rough go in he second round, with just 30 points. Easily, the best dunk contest I’ve covered.
What it was really missing was Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon.
Tonight’s penultimate schedule is dubbed the State Farm All-Star Saturday Night and include a trio of events: the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest, and Verizon Slam Dunk Contest and.
The field for this years three-point contest is loaded and it consists of Stephen Curry, James Harden, Klay Thompson, C.J. McCollum, Khris Middleton, Kyle Lowry, J.J. Redick and Devin Booker.
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Booker, bless his heart, was trampled by both Curry and Thompson in the finals, scoring “only” 16. But fellow Warrior Thompson was better, racking up 27 as he hit eight shots in a row in the middle and drained the final rack of money balls as the crowd roared.
