Bennedict Mathurin had a day to remember on Friday.
Mathurin, the second-year star of the Indiana Pacers, partook in the Rising Stars Challenge as part of Team Jalen. Things generally went well for Mathurin who, at night’s end, was named MVP of the night, pleasing his home crowd at Indiana’s Gainbridge Fieldhouse. But Mathurin also had a moment that will be tough to live down.
Working against Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren, things seemed to go well for Mathurin. After dribbling to his left and running by Duren, Mathurin went up for the dunk. Mathurin lost control of the ball and with that, he didn’t get the dunk.
He did, however, execute the rarely-seen dunk airball.
Mathurin airballed a dunk 😭 pic.twitter.com/kNeiDwdv02
— BrickWrld (@BRICKW0RLD) February 17, 2024
To his credit, Mathurin seemed to have a lot of fun with this blunder. He was not alone.
Predictably, basketball fans had a lot of fun with Mathurin’s blooper.
Mathurin just airballed a dunk man that’s impressive I never seen that before lmaooo
— Niko (@nikotaughtyou) February 17, 2024
Benn Mathurin missed this dunk badly
Haliburton and Toppin can't stop laughing pic.twitter.com/nR6T5wjjBn
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) February 17, 2024
Benedict Mathurin just had most exciting dunk attempt that never touched the rim that I’ve seen in a long time. #PaniniRisingStars #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/MDIrvVSqOn
— Brian Shoemaker (@brian_shoemaker) February 17, 2024
Benedict Mathurin in Rising Stars game one scored 18/40 of the team’s points, beefed with Jaden Ivey, lost a $25k free throw bet, airballed a dunk, and hit the game winning bucket
Generational performance
— 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒆 🌩 (@Three_Cone) February 17, 2024
Despite the missed dunk, it was still a great day for the second-year star, who certainly earned the MVP. Mathurin and Team Jalen beat Team Tamika. Mathurin was a big reason why, scoring 18 points in his team’s 40-35 win. That put Team Jalen in the final against Team Detlef. Mathurin scored four points in that game, helping Team Jalen defeat Team Detlef 26-13.
