Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Wade defends giving Gordon’s final dunk a ’9’
CHICAGO – Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade defended his decision to give Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon a nine on his final dunk that gave Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. the victory in Saturday’s Dunk Contest.
After dueling back-and-forth through the contest’s final and a round of “dunkoffs”, the Heat forward earned a score of 48 from the judges for his running windmill dunk from just inside of the freethrow line.
Gordon followed up Jones’ dunk by jumping over 7-foot-5 Boston Celtics center Tacko Fall for a dunk that got fans and players who were courtside on their feet.
What followed was an arena filled with shock, with Gordon’s dunk receiving a score of 47.
Wade, who is a former teammate of Derrick Jones Jr., drew the ire of fans on Twitter with some saying he was biased towards the Heat forward.
It’s a claim Wade shut down.
“It took nine rounds. I mean, I wasn’t biased,” Wade said. “I wasn’t the only one who gave him a nine, let’s talk about that. There [were] three people that gave a nine. But people are going to talk. Aaron Gordon is not going to lose any sleep about not winning a dunk contest. He’s one of our better NBA players and one of the young stars in this league.
“But it was entertainment, and at the end of the day, as judges, we had to come up with a winner. It was unfortunate, but we had to.”
Wade’s right. Scottie Pippen and Chadwick Boseman were the other judges who also gave Gordon’s last dunk a nine.
But Chicago native and hip-hop artist Common and Los Angeles Sparks star Candace Parker, the judges who gave Gordon’s dunk a 10, told ESPN that the judges intended for the second round of the dunk-off to end in a tie but one of them didn’t follow through with the plan.
Whether Wade was the one who didn’t stick to the plan is likely to remain a mystery. What’s clear is that Gordon doesn’t plan on competing in the Dunk Contest again after participating three times.
“It’s a wrap, bro. It’s a wrap,” Gordon said. “I feel like I should have two trophies, you know what I mean? It’s over for that.”