NEW ORLEANS — There’s no silver medal in the slam-dunk contest, but Aaron Gordon deserved some shiny object for his participation in last year’s face-off with Zach LaVine, which, recency bias be damned, instantly entered the pantheon of the competition’s 32-year run.
“The dunk contest was getting dull,” Gordon said Friday. “People were starting to count it out. They were actually talking about putting the 3-point contest at the end of the night instead of the dunk contest at the end of the night because there were so many great shooters. There’s no more talk about that.”
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Grading the 2017 Slam Dunk Contest
Pacers swingman Glenn Robinson III outlasted Suns rookie Derrick Jones Jr. to take top grade in 2017 Slam Dunk Contest.
Pacers swingman Glenn Robinson III outlasted Suns rookie Derrick Jones Jr. to take top grade in 2017 Slam Dunk Contest.
With LaVine opting not to defend his back-to-back titles long before his season was cut short because of a torn ACL, this year’s contest was expected to be Gordon’s victory lap a year in the making for his contributions.
The Orlando Magic forward entered the night packing a repertoire he hoped would match, if not surpass, the lofty bar set in Toronto.
“Just being able to one-up myself, that’s what I’m looking to do,” he said. “I’m not looking to play it safe nor maintain. I’m looking to excite and get a whole bunch of 10s on my dunks. It would be nice to come back the second straight year and show people I have more.”
Unfortunately, both Gordon and dunk fans may have gotten too far ahead of themselves.
Gordon went back to the future in his first attempt of the evening, receiving an assist overhead from a Stuff the Magic Dragon-controlled drone as the theme from “Star Wars” blared over the loud speakers. After missing his first three attempts, Gordon brought the ball between his legs for a successful, forceful jam.
But the judges awarded it just 38 points.
His next attempt earned just 34.
After two dunks, the presumptive favorite was out. As was DeAndre Jordan, by far the most popular name of the field.
Derrick Jones Jr., the undrafted rookie who had spent most of his season in the D-League, seemed poised to make good on the hype he received after circulating YouTube clips positioned him as the darkhorse.
But after perhaps the two best dunks of the night — a leap over four Phoenix Suns teammates positioned in a row (worth 45 points, per judges), and a between-the-legs lefty jam following an assist off the side of the backboard from Devin Booker — he, too, would ultimately falter.
Jones Jr. failed connect on his first dunk of the final round, allowing Glenn Robinson III an easy route to victory based on good ole consistency.
“I thought I was going to have to go up against Derrick in the finals,” Robinson III said. “I’ve seen the things that I can do. That guy can jump. Sometimes this competition is tough. It’s tough to stay loose, things like that. But, man, when your adrenaline is going, there’s no other feeling.”
Robinson III punctuated his win with one of the better moves of this All-Star Saturday nightcap: He hoped over Paul George, the Pacers’ mascot and cheerleader stacked in a row and threw down a reverse jam.
But with the trophy assured as long as he scored a 44 or higher — which he had done on two of his three dunks already — even his best move felt more like an inevitable conclusion rather than a grand finale.
The dunk contest is indeed not dead, despite the league’s increasing love of the long ball threatening to upend its place as the premier event of All-Star Weekend. But on this night, it wasn’t exactly alive, either.
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