NBABy Jay Rigdon on

This year’s All-Star Saturday Night festivities certainly delivered. After a Buddy Hield won the 3-Point Contest on his final shot, the Dunk Contest had a tough act to follow.

It delivered in every respect, though, thanks to an epic showdown between Miami Heat guard Derrick Jones Jr. and Magic forward Aaron Gordon. Gordon infamously lost after putting down a few of the best dunks on the history of the contest in 2016. The under-the-legs/over the mascot dunk is iconic.

Gordon lost that night to Zach LaVine, who also put on an incredible show. Tonight, Gordon’s main antagonist was Jones, and both dunkers again put on a hell of a display. Gordon racked up four consecutive 50-point scores. Here’s one of the prettiest dunks you’ll ever see, though it took him (an understandable) two tries to throw down.

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1228882732551491585

Jones, meanwhile, put up a series of ridiculous between-the-legs efforts.

After both men continued to rack up 50s through the final round and through the first dunk-off, everyone pretty much decided that the right thing to do would be to call it a tie. Instead, they were forced to go for one more. Jones pulled out an homage to Michael Jordan, fitting as the All-Star Game was in Chicago for the first time since the MJ/Dominique battle in 1988.

The judges, perhaps sensing the need to ramp up their critiques in order to decide a winner, awarded Jones a 48. That left the door open for Gordon, who pulled Tacko Fall (and Tacko Fall’s amazing pants) onto the court and proceeded to jump over him to throw down what everyone assumed was the winning dunk.

Except…it wasn’t. Gordon scored a 47, giving Jones the win.

https://twitter.com/_MarcusD3_/status/1228885766669000704

Giannis’s reaction was the Twitter consensus as well, and Gordon agreed.

That obviously sucks for Gordon, who pretty clearly had the better night overall, even if Jones matched him nearly dunk for dunk after the opening round. Unsatisfying finish aside, it was still an incredibly fun event to watch, which is a nice change considering how boring it had gotten just a few years ago.

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.

View all posts by Jay Rigdon