OKC Thunder: Bigs rule skills, Buddy 3-Ball, controversy in dunk contest

State Farm All-Star Saturday Night had one OKC Thunder participant as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lost in the first round but the drama came later in the event.

In his next opportunity to shine at the 2020 NBA All-Star weekend OKC Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t exactly have the performance he was hoping for. Then again none of the guards performed as all four bigs moved on in the Taco Bell Skills Competition.

Round one featured:

• Spencer Dinwiddie versus Bam Adebayo
• Patrick Beverley versus Pascal Siakam
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander versus Khris Middleton
• Jayson Tatum versus Domantas Sabonis

In every instance, the bigs won the first round and the main issue was the chest pass into the bucket that stalled the guards.

https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/1228856056266317824

After the competition, SGA teased he’ll need to focus more on his passing skills but did think he rushed the passing portion of the challenge.

Even though Middleton had a big lead because of Shai needing to take extra attempts on the pass into the glowing bucket he almost pulled off the win but failed to hit his first 3-point attempt.

In the second round Adebayo knocked out Siakam, Sabonis beat Middleton and in the final round, Bam won by knocking out Sabonis.

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1229057922191314944

MTN DEW 3-Point Contest:

Scoring: each ball worth one point, money balls worth two points, MTN Dew Zone green balls worth three points.

• Trae Young: nine balls + three money balls (6), no green balls – 15 points.
• Devonte’ Graham: five balls + five money balls (10) + one green ball (3) – 18 points
• Duncan Robinson: 8 balls + 4 money balls (8) + one green ball (3) – 19 points
• Devin Booker the winner from two seasons: 11 balls + 5 money balls (10) + both green balls (6) – 27 points
• Buddy Hield: 11 balls +  8 money balls (16) + no green balls – 27 points
• Davis Bertans:  9 balls + 7 money balls (14) + one green ball (3) – 26 points
• Zach LaVine: 11 balls +  6 money balls (12) + no green balls  23 points
• Joe Harris: 9 balls, 5 money balls (10), one green ball (3) – 22 points

Final round:

• Davis Bertans: 7 balls, 6 money balls (12), one green ball (3) – 22 points
• Devin Booker: 11 balls, 6 money balls (12), one green ball (3) – 26 points
• Buddy Hield: 11 balls, 8 money balls (16), no green balls – 27 points

The drama was on high alert as it came down to the final shot by Hield who needed to hit it in order to beat Booker’s score.

Ironically, Hield didn’t hit any of the green balls in either round and still posted back to back 27 point rounds to take the win.

AT&T Slam Dunk:

Controversy surrounded the final event of the State Farm All-Star Saturday Night when Aaron Gordon delivered four perfect dunks but lost. The way the dunk competition works the first two dunks separate the two finalists. In essence, the board is wiped clean at this point and the contestants start with clean slates. The four participants were Dwight Howard, Pat Connaughton, Derrick Jones Jr. and Aaron Gordon.

Gordon had some amazing dunks involving his Magic mascot at the 2016 All-Star weekend in Toronto but also lost that dunk contest to Zach LaVine.

Dwight Howard:

• Round one: 41
• Round two: 49
  • Total: 90

Pat Connaughton:

• Round one: 45
• Round two: 50
  • Total: 95

Derrick Jones Jr.:

• Round one: 46
• Round two: 50
  • Total: 96

Aaron Gordon:

• Round one: 50
• Round two: 50
  • Total: 100

Final Round and sudden death dunk-off:

Derrick Jones Jr.:

• Round three: 50
• Round four: 50
• Round five sudden death dunk-off: 50
• Round six sudden death dunk-off: 48
  • Total: 198

Aaron Gordon:

• Round three: 50
• Round four: 50
• Round five sudden death dunk-off: 50
• Round six sudden death dunk-off: 47
  • Total: 197

This time Jones did a lot of dunks involving putting the ball between his legs but there was a lot of power behind his dunks. That said, the Gordon one hand 360 off the backboard was a show stopper.

https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1229027650787655680

And while his final sudden death dunk over 7’5″  Tacko Fall was impressive he did have to push on him to clear his height. Still, post competition, rapper Common stated the judges agreed to make it a tie but someone misunderstood and marked Gordon one point lower resulting in him losing by one point for the second time in a dunk off.

https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1229042749694808066

Many jumped on Dwyane Wade because he was one of the three judges to give Gordon a nine instead of a 10 and was clearly pulling for his Miami Heat players throughout the night (of which Jones Jr. is a member). The other two judges who dispensed nines were Scotty Pippen and Chadwick Boseman.

Wade took to social media stating Gordon won’t lose any sleep over not winning a dunk competition but if he had seen the after contest presser the youngster isn’t impressed stating I had five perfect dunks and that’s two championships I should own that I don’t. Wade might have some apologies due to Gordon!

Notably, Shai Gilegeous-Alexander joined the ESPN crew with Channing Frye, Taylor Rooks and Candace Parker to discuss the dunks after the competition wrapped.

On the slate today  – the big event featuring Team LeBron of which OKC Thunder guard Chris Paul is a member versus Team Giannis.