Washington guard John Wall jumped over G-man mascot and then threw down a double-handed reverse dunk to outdo Sacramento’s Ben Mclemore as the East completed a sweep in the 2014 Slam dunk contest on Saturday night’s (Sunday PH time) All-star at New Orleans.
photo credit: nba.com
Mclemore put up a gallant stand against Wall, soaring over a king’s throne where NBA legend Shaquille O’ Neal is sitting before he slammed home the ball but Judges Dominique Wilkins, Magic Johnson and Julius Erving gave the victory to the Wizards’ star, who iced his winning dunk with some dance moves.
Defending champion Terrence Ross of Toronto and the Indiana’s Paul George also had their fair share of electrifying dunks when they eliminated Golden State’s Harrison Barnes and Portland’s Damian Lillard.
Wall, who is also a first time All-star this year, was voted the “dunker of the night” by fans.
With the rules changed, the six participants of the event were compelled to represent their respective conferences. The first round was freestyle but the second was a different one. Each player need to outduel its match-up in the opposing side. The Eastern representatives Wall, George and Ross did just that as they defeated their West’s counterparts convincingly to level the record of East and West to 2-2.
Meanwhile, Chris Bosh and his teammates Wilkins and WNBA player Swin Cash, won the shooting stars event before Lillard, who participated in all three events bagged the Skills challenge competition together with his partner Utah’s Trey Burke.
Marco Belinelli on the other hand took home the three-point contest title to give the West a 2-1 lead in the night.
The draw in the Saturday All-star showcase allowed the two conferences to split $500,000 prize for charity.