As a succession of players demonstrated the inability of anyone to complete a chest pass, the brackets were whittled down to Boston Celtics sophomore Isaiah Thomas and Minnesota Timberwolves rookie Karl-Anthony Towns.
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In the end, Gordon got a 47 with a Harold Miner-style jackknife dunk on his fourth dunk, allowing LaVine to take the title in one of the most memorable dunk contests in years.
“I had to bring my A-plus-plus-plus game”, LaVine said.
Drummond, who will participate in the 65th NBA All-Star Game on Sunday here, promised to use a player from another team as a prop in the contest.
Thompson knows how good Curry is, so he couldn’t have been terribly surprised when he was told during NBA All-Star player interviews that “everyone” thinks Curry is going to win the 3-point contest Saturday night. That includes Michael Jordan (1987-88, Chicago Bulls), Jason Richardson (2002-03, Golden State Warriors) and Nate Robinson (2006, 2009 and 2010, New York Knicks).
He knows people might still talk about Jordan or Julius Erving, great dunkers of the past.
Was Gordon robbed by LaVine’s hype and accompanying posse? “It was insane. In my opinion, yes”.
Thompson, the former Washington State standout, scored 27 points in the final round, making his last eight shots to beat Curry and Phoenix’s Devin Booker.
LaVine also was MVP of the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday, leading the USA team over the World team 157-154 when he scored 30 points.
But Gordon didn’t make it easy, as the two traded spectacular soaring dunks in the final round. LaVine went back to the free throw line, taking the ball between his legs for an impressive dunk, but was it enough?
It took three rounds to break a tie between Zach LaVine of the Timberwolves and Aaron Gordon of the Magic at the NBA Slam Dunk Contest tonight – an exhibition which should have had Neil deGrasse Tyson as one of the judges.
Gordon jumped over Magic mascot Stuff, who was standing on a hoverboard, for three of his dunks, including one in which he grabbed the ball and passed it underneath both legs before throwing it down. Some will say Gordon was robbed.
The only boos went to the judges, with the crowd thinking Shaquille O’Neal was a little stingy with a couple of 9s instead of ideal 10s.
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“We were kind of mind-boggled a couple times because we got 49s and they were 50s”, LaVine said. The first round did manage some drama as Steph Curry, the defending champion and current golden child of the league, started off cool, hit nine in a row and then cooled off again.
