Another NBA All-Star weekend is in the books, and with it, another round of some fantastic slam dunks.
The annual dunk contest was held on Saturday, and was the headlining event of the evening. Look, the All-Star Weekend has never been a very thrilling or exciting event, but the dunk contest has always been the most entertaining part of it all.
Though the game this year was actually really good due to some much-needed tweaks to the format, the dunk contest still had a lot of hype going into it because of a lot of different reasons.
LETS GET TO THE DUUUUNKS!!
First off, we saw Dwight Howard of the Los Angeles Lakers return to the competition, donned in a Superman shirt and cape (in reference to his nickname) with the number “24” over the logo in honor of Kobe Bryant.
Along with Howard, the contest included Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic, Derrick Jones Jr. of the Miami Heat, and Pat Connaughton of the Milwaukee Bucks.
All participants came out to compete with their dunks. Rims were rattled, stand-ins ducked their heads to not get kicked, and the crowd loved it. But, in the end, it came down to Gordon and Jones Jr.
Now, I want to get this out of the way right now: I am a huge Aaron Gordon fan. As a University of Arizona fan, I have always cheered hard for him since he came to the NBA.
And I am still bitter about his snub loss to Zach Lavine many years ago in this content. So, I wanted him to win it, and if the internet is any indication, everyone agreed with me. So let’s get this out of the way: Aaron Gordon should have won it.
But unfortunately, the judges didn’t see it that way. But before we get to that, let’s recap what happened.
Gordon and Jones Were Basically Stratosphere dunking… Almost a Space Ja- Never Mind.
Gordon and Jones were exchanging nasty dunks like it was their job (which I guess it is, isn’t it?), and Jones was putting on a show. In the end, it came down to a Dunk-Off between the two.
This meant they each took a turn dunking and whoever would get the higher score would win. But they both kept getting 50’s!
This went on for a few rounds until it ended in a 48-47 victory for Jones. This ending has been controversial since it happened, with social media and fans grilling the contest judges for giving the win to Jones.
Twitter has been ablaze with memes and roasts, judges have had to come out and defend their decisions, and Aaron Gordon has said he isn’t doing the contest anymore.
That last part is the biggest shame because he is one of the best dunkers in the league. Thanks a lot, judges.
Just kidding, I have no grudges against the judges; it is a menial event during a menial weekend.
While I firmly believe Gordon should have been the winner this year (AGAIN!), I will give credit to Jones putting on a show too.
This ending is the one bad part of an otherwise truly stellar All-Star Weekend. That’s coming from a stout skeptic of the event. Hats off to the NBA for making it one to remember!
But come on, how do you see this and not make him the winner?! HOW?! And his last dunk was over Tacko Fall, you know, one of the tallest people on EARTH. I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense to me, but it’s fine. I’ll be fine. I promise.
Maybe.
