When Karl-Anthony Towns spoke of it he sounded like he had been to the promised land. He wanted to spread the good word, but he knew that the element of surprise would help his teammate, Zach LaVine, in the slam dunk contest on .
鈥淗e has some special things. I saw the secrets,鈥 Towns said Friday. 鈥淭he secrets are popcorn season.鈥
Towns knew secrets, but not all of them. He didn鈥檛 know he was part of it, or that the dunk contest in 海角社区官网could make an argument for being part of .
Popcorn season started with Towns, a seven-footer, winning the skills challenge to get the night going. He was mobbed by his fellow forwards, ecstatic that they triumphed over the guards in an event where they physically looked out of place.
It continued with Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry, the two best shooters on the best team in the world, slugging it out in . Thomspon won and matched Curry鈥檚 record-setting 27-points from last year with a buzzer-beating money ball.
Even the entertainment 鈥 five-foot-four Kevin Hart tying the Warriors鈥 Draymond Green in a three-point contest 鈥 was inspiring to anyone who鈥檚 ever tried to shoot 30 three-pointers in a minute.
And it grew to historic when LaVine and Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon engaged in a dunk contest that went to overtime (鈥淚t鈥檚 a dunk-off!鈥 Zoolander fans would beam) that saw them trade six perfect 50s for the first time in contest history, before LaVine defended the dunk title he cruised to a year ago.
鈥淓verybody鈥檚 probably going to say something about Mike and all them and Dr. J,鈥 LaVine said of it being the best contest ever. 鈥淚n my personal opinion, man, we did some things that nobody else did.鈥
What Gordon and LaVine put on brought life to an event that鈥檚 been an afterthought in the months leading up to all-star weekend. Everyone 鈥 fans, media, players taking part in Sunday鈥檚 game 鈥 has been happy to say that no one could touch LaVine in this contest.
Gordon, who vaulted with both legs over the Magic mascot en route to one of multiple legendary dunks (you may never see those again), will have a legion of backers for years, insisting that he was shafted in judging. LaVine was historic and electric in his own way, though, going between his legs from just inside the free-throw line to win it.
鈥淵ou just watched history,鈥 LaVine said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what we just did. That was creative. I think we should share the trophy. (Gordon) did stuff I鈥檝e never seen before.
鈥淚 had to bring my A-plus, plus, plus game.鈥
It was an A-plus, plus, plus night, maybe the benchmark for all other all-star Saturday鈥檚 going forward.
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