NBA All-Star 2016 Saturday night: Dunk contest wows Toronto
Saturday night's dunk contest could very well be the highlight of the entire 2016 NBA All-Star weekend in Toronto.
- CBC Sports | Zach LaVine defends dunk crown in epic showdown
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:
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.
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.
