NBA All-Star 2016 Saturday night: Dunk contest wows Toronto
Zach Lavine, Aaron Gordon battle in epic dunk contest
Saturday night's dunk contest could very well be the highlight of the entire 2016 NBA All-Star weekend in Toronto.
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The NBA's top talent put on a show at the Air Canada Centre, but on this night, the skills and three-point shooting just served as a warm-up for one of the most incredible dunk contests the league has ever seen.
Just, wow.
Four dunkers entered the contest: Denver's Will Barton, Detroit's Andre Drummond, Orlando's Aaron Gordon and the defending champion, Minnesota's Zach Lavine.
Lavine won again. Because this:
But not before Gordon did this:
Cuffing szn? Aaron Gordon. Yeah. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VerizonDunk?src=hash">#VerizonDunk</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAVine?src=hash">#NBAVine</a> <a href="https://t.co/bwLjYYdZDQ">https://t.co/bwLjYYdZDQ</a>
—@NBA
What do you think, Drake?
Speaking of celebrities, Drake sat next to Spike Lee. Jon Stewart, who introduced the slam dunk contest judges — including crowd favourite Magic Johnson — sat courtside with celebrity game standout Jason Sudeikis, Olivia Wilde and Steve Nash.
Nash actually came out to lend a soccer-style assist to Drummond during the dunk contest, which sadly didn't work out for the big man.
But don't blame Nash. Even Drummond watched the dunk contest finish in a state of disbelief.
MERCY AG! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAVine?src=hash">#NBAVine</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VerizonDunk?src=hash">#VerizonDunk</a> <a href="https://t.co/oaJgTOQATa">https://t.co/oaJgTOQATa</a>
—@NBA
Barton, however, gets the win for best entrance for his Thriller impression, complete with zombie cheerleaders.
In the other contests, two Golden State Warriors battled for the three-point shooting title, with Klay Thompson beating defending champ Steph Curry. And the big rookie Karl-Anthony Towns won the skills competition, to the delight of his teammate Andrew Wiggins, who watched from the sideline.
Toronto Raptor Kyle Lowry competed in the three-point contest but didn't make it out of the first round. But, he'll start in Sunday's All-Star game while his teammate, DeMar DeRozan comes off the bench.
Here's hoping Sunday's games will have some more highlight reel dunks.