Philippine teenage basketball sensation Kobe Paras successfully defended his title in the FIBA 3X3 Slam Dunk Contest early Monday in Hungary as he defeated representatives from the United States, Uruguay, and Hungary, the host of this year’s competition. Kobe Paras topped the qualifiers with a score of 56 points.
Watch Kobe Paras Performance During the Elimination Round of the FIBA U-18 Dunk Contest:
During the finals, UCLA-bound Kobe Paras went up against USA’s Jalek Felton, Hungary’s Mark Boros and Uruguay’s Agustin Da Costa. The 17-year-old Kobe Paras made it to the finals after he performed an off-the-bounce reverse windmill and between-the-legs dunk in the elimination round.
During the finals of the Slam Dunk contest, Kobe Paras went up against Team USA’s Jalek Felton, after the American beat Uruguay’s Agustin Da Costa in a sudden-death elimination to determine the other finalist.
Justin Felton went up with a strong performance, as he performed an off-the-bounce windmill slam in the first round and then catching the ball from his teammate who was in the stand, for a double pump dunk in the second round. The American youth’s dunk earned him 49 points in the finals.
During the finals Kobe Paras missed his first attempt in the first round but he quickly recovered by making an impressive off-the-bounce two-handed windmill in his second attempt while in the second round he performed an amazing jumper over his teammates and coach that electrified the crowd and he was awarded with a total score of 49 points in his first two dunks.
In the third and final round of the competition, Team USA’s Justin Felton, flubbed his first three attempts wherein he tried to catch a bounce pass from his teammate, and settled for a between-the-legs that garnered him a score of 29 points from the judges.
Kobe Paras needs a perfect dunk to retain his title, he grabbed the ball from his teammate’s hand to nail a slick reverse flush and claimed perfect 10s across the board as he brought home the title for the Philippine Team.
Watch the final Day of the FIBA 3×3 U-18: