The NBA’s annual Allstar Weekend, taking place in Los Angeles this year, was full of exciting competition among some of the NBA’s best up and coming players.
2018 NBA Skills Challenge Champion Spencer Dinwiddie of the Brooklyn Nets (Via The Los Angeles Times)
The first contest of the night, the Skills Challenge, tests player’s overall skills such as ball-handling, 3 point shooting, passing ability, and finishing around the rim. Participants are required to dribble the length of the court through an obstacle course made of defenders. They must then pass a basketball with precision in order to get it into the net. After this, players take off into the obstacle course once more, finishing with a layup once they reach the end of the court. The last aspect of the sequence is sprinting back down to the three-point line and being the first to make a three-pointer. In the semifinals, Spencer Dinwiddie eliminated the Nuggets’ Jamal Murray while Lauri Markkanen beat the Sixers’ Joel Embiid. Embiid eliminated Al Horford, who missed his first three 3 pointers, despite having an early lead. In the first round, Dinwiddie came from behind and connected on his initial three point attempt to defeat the Kings’ Buddy Hield. Jamal Murray was able to eliminate Lou Williams of the Clippers making his third 3-point attempt before the Clippers’ Lou Williams could attempt his first, thanks to an early lead. The contest saw Spencer Dinwiddie of the Brooklyn Nets defeat Lauri Markkanen in the final round for the award. The contest’s emergence of multiple big men against guards in the past few years has proved to enhance the excitement surrounding the competition. This year’s participants included Big men Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, Lauri Markkanen of the Chicago Bulls, Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons, and Al Horford of the Boston Celtics. The guard spots were comprised of Lou Williams of the Los Angeles Clippers, Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets, Buddy Hield of the Sacramento Kings, and Spencer Dinwiddie of the Brooklyn Nets, who would go on to win it all.
The second event of the evening was the JBL Three Point Contest. The skilled sharpshooters of this year’s group included reigning champion Eric Gordon of the Houston Rockets, first time Allstar Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards, shooting guard Wayne Ellington of the Miami Heat, small forward Tobias Harris of the Los Angeles Clippers, point guard Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors, Allstar Paul George of the Oklahoma City Thunder, splash brother Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, and last but not least, sharpshooter Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns.
The 2018 NBA Three Point Contest Participants (Via The Source)
Some players who have participated in this contest in years past seemed to struggle, such as Kyle Lowry and Paul George who each finished with scores of 11 and 9, respectively. Conversely, inexperienced players such as Wayne Ellington and Tobias Harris came out firing, scoring 17 and 18 points, in the first round. As usual, the contest’s second round was comprised of the highest three scores from the initial round, being Tobias Harris (18), Devin Booker (19) and Klay Thompson (19). However, Harris was quickly eliminated in the second round by Booker who put up an NBA record 28 points. Many fans figured topping this feat would be impossible, but if anyone could do it, it was Klay Thompson. The Allstar shooting guard provided plenty of suspense through an impressive start but ultimately fell just 3 points short of Booker with a score of 25, in what was one of the most historic three point contests the NBA has ever seen.
Devin Booker shooting a money ball in his NBA record 28 point round of the three point contest (Via the Los Angeles Times)
The final event of the evening was the highly anticipated Kia Slam Dunk Contest. This year’s judges were notable comedian Chris Rock, music icon DJ Khaled, NBA Legend “Dr. J” Julius Erving, WNBA commissioner Lisa Leslie, and Actor Mark Wahlberg. This year’s contestants were all 25 or younger, many of them perceived to be future Allstars. From Dennis Smith Jr.’s through the legs slam to Larry Nance Jr. imitating his father’s vintage dunk while wearing his old Suns jersey, the contestants were able to put on quite an exciting show. Victor Oladipo’s showmanship was made evident through his spectacular dunk while wearing the Black Panther mask.
Victor Oladipo wearing the Black Panther mask as he does the memorable “Wakanda Forever” handshake with the film’s male lead Chad Boseman (Via Mashable)
Donovan Mitchell’s creativity was on full display throughout the entire contest, with his initial use of two hoops as a means of giving himself a self-alley oop in the first round. The contest’s final round provided plenty of excitement surrounding the Mitchell vs. Nance Jr. matchup. Larry Nance Jr. boasted a perfect score of 50 with his “double tap” alley-oop to himself off the backboard. Many fans thought this would be impossible to surpass but Mitchell did just that. After removing his jersey, Donovan Mitchell revealed a throwback Vince Carter Raptors jersey from when the legend won the Slam Dunk Contest back in the year 2000. Mitchell rose up and perfectly pulled off Carter’s vintage “360 windmill” dunk with innate accuracy. Mitchell followed this up with the exact gesture of pointing both hands upwards and a few remarks of “It’s Over!!” for good measure, a Carter signature. They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and it seemed as if the nostalgia surrounding Vince’s dunk and the difficulty of accomplishing such a spectacular feat in such precise and detailed fashion allowed Mitchell to be crowned the 2018 Kia Slam Dunk Contest Champion, in what was a memorable event, to say the least.
Donovan Mitchell paying homage to Vince Carter’s signature celebration (Via the Los Angeles Times)
Rye Sports Center 