Charlotte Hornets rookie forward Miles Bridges, New York Knicks point guard Dennis Smith Jr., Atlanta Hawks big man John Collins and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Hamidou Diallo went head to head in the 2019 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Diallo ended up with the win, but here’s a full recap of the competition.
Round 1
John Collins was up first in the first round. Collins went up with it, grabbed the bottom of the left side of the backboard with his left hand, and threw it down with his right – on the right side of the hoop.
John Collins grabbed the backboard on his first dunk of the night #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/Gk27OA9EuC
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
Next up was Hamidou Diallo, who threw down a nasty windmill with an assist from his teammate and former MVP Russell Westbrook.
Lefty windmill from Hamidou Diallo off a Russell Westbrook pass gives him a 48 pic.twitter.com/bP5gkpqfG6
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
Dennis Smith Jr. went third. It took him all the tries he was allotted, but he put down a very nice 360 windmill (We can call it a 360, but it wasn’t a full 360).
360 on the third attempt gives Dennis Smith Jr a 45 in the first round pic.twitter.com/yzk9i609e3
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
Miles Bridges went for a between-the-legs throwdown off the backboard but was unable to convert it.
If Miles Bridges had made this … #ATTSlamDunk pic.twitter.com/YV0WsZwRs3
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 17, 2019
Scores after round one:
- Diallo: 48
- Smith: 45
- Collins: 40
- Bridges: 33
Round 2
Bridges was up first in the second round. Donning a Larry “Grandmama” Jersey, Bridges’ second dunk attempt was far more successful than his first. Tens across the board for Bridges.
That’s a 5??0?? for Miles Bridges doing his best Larry Johnson impression pic.twitter.com/wtsfyEz1pr
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
MILES BRIDGES WITH THE GOLD TOOTH ? >>>>>>>>>>>> pic.twitter.com/qQnBi6nDgJ
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
Collins’ second dunk had an awful lot of prep and a surprising amount of… costumes? Collins took flight to tomahawk it down over a biplane. He may have had points deducted for kicking a bit of the model plane.
John Collins broke the plane on his dunk attempt ??? pic.twitter.com/DL00gWzuD0
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
For his second dunk, Dennis Smith Jr. brought out a sitting J. Cole, whom he leaped over to put down a powerful hammer.
J COLE ?? DENNIS SMITH JR…
And Cole tried to dunk too ? pic.twitter.com/AiGdaXUpuf
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
Diallo’s second dunk was a monstrous one. He upped the stakes on Smith. Rather than going over a seated rapper, he absolutely soared over an upright 7-footer: Shaquille O’Neal. We all need a poster of Diallo’s post-dunk image, hanging from the rim by his elbow and revealing the Superman logo hidden beneath his jersey.
HAMIDOU DIALLO ELBOW DUNK OVER SHAQ. HUH??? pic.twitter.com/3JkfBZEKFs
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
RUN THIS BACK BECAUSE HAMIDOU DIALLO REALLY. DID. THAT. pic.twitter.com/OkOzG5X9dI
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
Round 3
It was Diallo vs. Smith in the final round.
Smith was up first in the third round. He tried for a between-the-legs lefty slam and then a powerful one-hander, but couldn’t get either one to go down.
Dennis Smith with the most original dunk attempt of all time pic.twitter.com/dAfnw9i8lr
— Ben Pfeifer (@Ben_Pfeifer_) February 17, 2019
Diallo’s head was at the rim on his first dunk of the final round, but he played it safe. It was a pretty low-difficulty dunk – for him, anyway. He earned a 43.
Too easy for Hamidou Diallo pic.twitter.com/JH91FoWmBt
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
It took him quite a few tries, but Smith put down a gorgeous dunk after he vaulted himself over Dwyane Wade and caught the lob from Stephen Curry (that’s a lot of starpower for one dunk, sheesh), for which he was awarded a perfect 50.
Curry lobs it to Dennis Smith Jr and he leaps over D-Wade for a 50 pic.twitter.com/dlAjEVjQOL
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
The jumping-over-famous-people-fest continued with Diallo’s final dunk. This time he went over Quavo and earned a 45 – enough to beat Smith.
Hamidou Diallo secures the win with a dunk over Quavo pic.twitter.com/1gqc8CbgYi
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) February 17, 2019
