The 2016 NBA Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday night of 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend really got going when the final two dunkers started going at it. No disrespect to Andre Drummond or Will Barton but the real dunk contest got started when LaVine and Gordon went at it. Gordon was LaVine’s toughest competition going into the contest and he proved it for all of the world to see.
Sure, Zach LaVine is technically the ‘winner’ but Aaron Gordon might have had the best showing in a ‘losing’ effort and the end of the day, everyone watching were the real winners of the night.
The final round got started with this nasty cuff dunk from Aaron Gordon called the ‘Mailman Slam.’ He had the Orlando Magic mascot named ‘Stuff’ do a spin while riding a hoverboard and Gordon went up and put down the huge dunk.
Then LaVine had a cuff dunk of his own to try and match Gordon’s score of 50 with a 360 twist to the cuff.
Aaron Gordon brought back the mascot for one more dunk it was quite possibly the dunk of the night. Aaron Gordon elevated over ‘Stuff’ and put down a ridiculous under-the-legs seated dunk over the mascot. How?
The pressure was on LaVine so he decided to pull out a crazy windmill from the free throw line to try and force a dunk-off and retain his crown.
To the dunk-off we went and both competitors had perfect scores going into it so there was no room for error going forward. Aaron Gordon decided to once again get some help from a member of the Magic organization and this time it was his point guard, Elfird Payton, who threw a pass off the side of the backboard to Gordon and he put down a nasty 360, 2-hand windmill slam.
Zach LaVine went back to his go-to with his between the dunks and this time, LaVine started from behind the hoop when he threw down the disgusting two-hand between-the-legs reverse.
At this point, both of these phenomenal dunkers had nothing left in the tank. No one anticipated that this contest would go to double overtime so now it was time to pull out some old reliable dunks. Gordon went to one of his classics with his double pump reverse slam that he’s been doing since high school.
After Gordon was awarded a questionable 47 from the judges, it was all on LaVine to pull out one last nasty slam and he sure did that with a between the legs slam from the free throw line to shut down the event.
What a crazy contest between two nasty dunkers and with these ridiculous slams in quite possibly the best Slam Dunk Contest of all time. Hopefully they will run it back next year in Charlotte.
