Toronto hosts NBA all-star game

Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves outdueled the Orlando Magic’s Aaron Gordon in arguably the most legendary contest in the history of the event.

LaVine ended up winning the contest and in the process made history by becoming the first person to claim the Slam Dunk Contest title in consecutive years. The two traded spectacular dunks creating a tough decision to make for the judges. Gordon breezed with that free throw jump en route to a between the legs dunk and in the end, the edge that he had at the start varied towards the end. We had 7 ideal scores out of 8 dunks (87.5%), and the one non-perfect dunk was more impressive than the 47 it received.

This dunk gets better every time you watch it and has to go down as the greatest dunk ever. “We would have been here all night”. “He can go up over anybody but I don’t know about his trick dunks”. Here’s hoping they’ll be ready for a rematch next February in Charlotte. It was the ideal mix of strength, athleticism, and creativity, the kind of thing that everyone wants to see out of the Dunk Contest.

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest has a new gold standard. Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon just brought the Dunk contest back to prominence, both class acts.

That has not been the case the past two years.

“Everybody’s probably going to say something about Mike and all them and Dr. J”, LaVine said, referring to Julius Erving. “It was insane. In my opinion, yes”. Last season, Smart may have been a candidate for the Rising Stars Challenge, but he battled injuries during his first season. That is insane. So off that dunk, you’ve got to give it to him. They were having fun together, it’s a special time. “You can see the enjoyment on their faces”.

After one quarter of the All-Star Game, the Eastern Conference leads the Western Conference 43-40. Get ready for another exciting night. To come back healthy this season, re-gain his all-star spot and then come up a point short of Wilt Chamberlain’s all-star game scoring record is worth celebrating. “That’s insane so I think that’s what it is for a lot of people”. Durant and Davis each had 10 points in the first quarter. I mean … he does windmills in the game. It’s not sad at all. Bryant said he’s “been extremely fortunate to play the game I love and be in the National Basketball Association for more than half my life”.