Zach LaVine takes flight, wins 2nd dunk contest

After Gordon and Lavine matched flawless 50s on their first two dunk-off performances, LaVine finally took home the trophy with his sixth dunk of the night.

The matchup between Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon peaked with an average of 7 million viewers between 10:15 and 10:30 p.m. Eastern time, which was the highest number across all of cable television.

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson put on a show in a teammate-versus-teammate affair in the Three-Point Contest, but it wound up not even coming close to what LaVine and Gordon accomplished.

The Skills Challenge was won by Timberwolves rookie center Karl-Anthony Towns, who beat Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas in the final round. In winning the National Basketball Association slam dunk contest, LaVine became only the fourth player to win back-to-back-Michael Jordan, Jason Richardson and Nate Robinson did it also.

Both Towns and Thomas hit the pass on the first try in the final round and came screaming up to the three-point arc at the same time.

“We can do this all night”, said the announcer. Gordon landed a spectacular dunk when he crossed the ball through his legs before slamming it cleanly. That’s insane. So off that dunk, you’ve got to give it to him. Cue another 50 and a court invasion from fellow players.

The never-before-seen moves kept coming and so did the ideal scores.

Gordon, though, stepped up his game in the final round, using Magic mascot Stuff, who was spinning on a hoverboard, to help him deliver a 360 dunk. In the championship round LaVine and Gordon produced a succession of brilliant dunks that had not been seen before.

Here’s a look at their back-and-forth battle, and a dunk contest for the ages.

In the overtime period, Gordon is left with the dunks he discarded and without the advantage of Stuff – Orlando’s mascot.

Zach LaVine, Sixth Dunk He had run out of ideas and afterward he credited Will Barton with suggesting he try to go through his legs from the free throw line. But he made it on the second attempt, hammering the ball down with his right hand for a 49 (O’Neal holding out again) and total of 99.

“I think everybody got the feel of the energy that we witness every single night when we play as Raptors players”, DeRozan said. Either this year’s dunkers are trash as they memorialize their elders, or this year’s guys are way better than anything that’s come before.

The NBA showed no shortage of sponsors in naming the evening and its events.

On A Podcast To Be Named Later, we discuss all of Saturday night starting off with the skills competition. Gordon had several dunks that would have won the completion in any other year, only this year it appeared that LaVine was going to win no matter how well Gordon dunked.