Retired NBA player Steve Nash, right, kicks the ball back to Detroit Pistons’ Andre Drummond during the slam dunk contest at the NBA All-Star weekend in Toronto on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016.
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The NBA’s biggest superstars will take center court Sunday night during the NBA All-Star weekend, but it was a pair of 20 year olds stole the show Saturday night.
Both LaVine and Aaron Gordon put on a show for the Toronto crowd in what was the best dunk contest we have seen in years.
That was until Gordon unleashed a reverse double-clutch dunk – good for a mere 47 of 50 – and LaVine responded with a ridiculous between-the-legs jam – on which he went airborn from just inside the free-throw line. His best move might have been when he grabbed the ball with one hand from the mascot spinning on a hoverboard and placed the other behind his head before throwing down a windmill dunk.
He outlasted Gordon in a duel that needed two overtimes and ended only when there was literally no ball to use. But in the end, LaVine earned the victory and he paid tribute to his first National Basketball Association head coach.
“Like half the dunks we did were like professional dunker dunks, and it takes them four or five times to try it and make it. And we did it on the first try”.
“Me and him are now like best friends, me and Stuff”, Gordon said.
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“He definitely shot well tonight”, Curry said. Emmanuel Mudiay competed in the Skill Challenge, but lost his head-to-head match up against the Boston Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas. “It’s a big jigsaw puzzle and we have to figure out over time how we can manage it. I have no doubt that one day we’ll have an All-Star game outside North America”. “This is bigger than me”.
