Carroll grad wins NBA’s Slam Dunk competition
Archbishop Carroll’s Derrick Jones Jr. soars to NBA slam dunk title »
CHICAGO >> Aaron Gordon lost another epic dunk contest. And it was by a couple of inches — namely, the top of Tacko Fall’s head.
Derrick Jones Jr., the 2015 Daily Times Player of the Year when with Archbishop Carroll, finally got his longawaited dunk contest title as an exclamation point to an epic All-Star Saturday Night, both for him and the Miami Heat.
Jones Jr. and Gordon needed two extra dunks apiece in the final round before deciding a winner, Jones Jr. prevailing 48-47 in the one that determined who left with the trophy.
Miami’s Bam Adebayo won the skills title as well, and Sacramento’s Buddy Hield took the 3-point crown. Their wins were absolute, there was no ambiguity: the ball going in told the tale. The dunk contest — much like the one between Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins in Chicago 32 years earlier — came down to the judges’ call.
Dwyane Wade was one of the judges and he said he wanted to have co-dunk contest winners but that the judges were told they had to pick a winner.
And when Gordon, the Orlando forward who fell to Zach LaVine in an unforgettable dunk contest at Toronto four years ago, picked the 7-foot-5 Fall to come out for his last dunk — Fall played college basketball in Orlando at UCF — it was the ultimate risk-reward moment.
Gordon, who wanted to jump over the slightly shorter-than-Fall Shaquille O’Neal but got his invitation declined, decided to bring Fall out and needed a 49 to win. But he didn’t totally clear Fall, and the judges gave him a 47. Just like that, Jones was the champion.
“Tallest dude in the gym.” Gordon said. “Jumping over somebody 7-5 and dunking it, it’s no easy feat. What’d I get, a 47? Come on, man. What are we doing?”
The first round was full of props: Jones Jr., who was celebrating his 23rd birthday, had a birthday cake and Adebayo on the court for his first dunk, Gordon went over Chicago native Chance The Rapper for a slam, Milwaukee’s Pat Connaughton leaped over Bucks teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo and kissed the ball off the glass before his second dunk, and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Dwight Howard brought back his Superman dunk from years ago as well.
Jones Jr. and Gordon emerged as the two finalists. Gordon was perfect on every dunk until his last one, going over Chance The Rapper a few times as well to the delight of the Chicago crowd.
But in the end, Jones proved prophetic. “I said I would do it,” Jones said.
Adebayo drew 2018 skills champion Spencer Dinwiddie of Brooklyn in the first round, having no problem with the accurate pass into a tight window, layup and 3-pointer that, to win, need to be made before an opponent completes the same course. Same thing in the second round, Adebayo finished off Toronto’s Pascal Siakam without a miss once again to earn his spot in the final.
“I told Spencer I’m going to be the champion,” Adebayo said. “We were walking in, and I told Spencer I was going to be a champion.”
It came down to big men: Adebayo against Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis. It took three tries for Adebayo to make his 3-pointer to win, and he still wound up beating Sabonis to the final make. Sabonis felt he rushed his second shot, and that gave Adebayo a leg up.
Neither Sabonis nor Adebayo was surprised that a pair of bigs wound up dueling for the skills title.