The NBA All-Star Weekend continued Saturday in Chicago at the United Center with the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest, and the Slam Dunk contest. The Miami Heat had two players win competitions while Sacramento was represented in the third category.
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Skills Challenge
In the first round of the Skills Challenge, Bam Adebayo beat Spencer Dinwiddie while Pascal Siakam won over Patrick Beverley, Kris Middleton won over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Domantas Sabonis prevailed over Jayson Tatum.
Round Two featured another win by Adebayo over Siakam and saw Sabonis defeat Middleton to advance to the final round.
Finally, for the first time since Dwayne Wade won the skills challenge in 2007, Adebayo became the first Heat player to win the challenge.
— 13am Adebayo💥 (@Bam1of1) January 28, 2020
3-Point Contest
The 3-Point Contest was an exciting competition between Davis Bertans, Devin Booker, Devonte’ Graham, Buddy Hield, Zach Lavine, Duncan Robinson, and Trae Young. Booker and Hield scored 27 points and Bertans scored 26 points to advance to the final round. Lavine had 23 points, Harris scored 22, Robinson put up 19, and Young finished last in the first round with 15 points.
In the final round, Bertans put up 22 points and Booker, the 2018 3-Point champion, put up 26 points. However, that wasn’t enough to win the title this year. In the final seconds of the final round, Hield made his last money ball shot and won the contest with 27 points.
Buddy Hield takes home the #MtnDew3pt trophy! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/8dBZjRAFwU
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 16, 2020
Slam Dunk Contest
The Slam Dunk Contest will surely cause controversy in the next few days as many people feel that Aaron Gordon, the 2016 slam dunk contest runner-up, was robbed of the trophy again by Derrick Jones Jr. this year.
In the first round of the contest, 2008 winner Dwight Howard and Pat Connaughton were eliminated despite impressive dunks. Both Gordon and Jones advanced to the final round with perfect scores, and Gordon received two in the first round.
The final round came down to a tiebreaking dunk after both Gordon and Jones scored three consecutive perfect scores. A “double overtime” of sorts then ensued, giving the players one more attempt to take the title.
Jones went first and windmilled from just inside the free-throw line, receiving a 48 from the panel of judges.
For his dunk, Gordon brought out 7-foot-5-inch Tacko Fall and jumped over him to dunk. Gordon clipped the top of the Celtics rookie’s head, but still completed the impressive dunk. The judges didn’t find this dunk as impressive as Jones’s, and scored accordingly with 47 points, one shy of a tie and two shy of a victory.
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This is the second time Gordon placed second in a highly contested slam dunk contest, with his first loss coming at the hands of Lavine in 2016.
The biases of certain judges will surely be discussed in arguments about Gordon being robbed, while those who feel Jones won fairly will point out the fact that he never did the same dunk twice.
If the events of All-Star Saturday Night are any indication of what’s to come in the much-anticipated All-Star game Sunday, viewers are in for a show. Giannis Antetokounmpo will lead the East All-Star team and Lebron James will lead the West All-Star team in the 69th annual game between the two conferences. The game begins at 8 p.m. EST and coverage will begin at 6 p.m. EST on TNT.
