LaVine slams door on challenger
Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine outlasted Magic forward Aaron Gordon in an epic final round of the slam-dunk contest, posting four straight perfect 50s to win for the second consecutive year.
LaVine and Gordon matched each other dunk for dunk in the first two tries in the final round. They then needed two rounds of tiebreakers to decide a winner.
Gordon got a 47 with a Harold Miner-style jackknife dunk on his fourth dunk, which opened the door for LaVine in one of the most memorable competitions in years.
He ended it with a between-the-legs dunk from a step inside the free-throw line to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back titles.
Thompson top shooter
Klay Thompson of the Warriors beat teammate Stephen Curry to win the three-point contest.
Thompson scored 27 points in the final round, making his last eight shots to beat Curry and the Suns’ Devin Booker. Curry scored 23 points, and Booker finished with 16 in the final round.
Curry was the event’s defending champion.
Thompson made 19 of his 25 shots in the final round, and that even bettered his 18-for-25 showing in the first round. Combine them, and Thompson shot a staggering 74 percent— 37-for-50— from long range for the night.
Big man wins skills challenge
Timberwolves rookie Karl-Anthony Towns beat Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas to win the skills challenge.
Towns, the No. 1 overall pick who stands nearly 7-feet tall, won in the first time the competition was opened up to include frontcourt players. Towns weaved through an obstacle course, fed a pass through a target, made a layup and hit a three-pointer to win it.
Silver disapproves of strategy
Commissioner Adam Silver has come out even more strongly against the so-called “Hack-a-Shaq” rule. Silver has long made it clear that he doesn’t like the strategy that calls for the intentional fouling of poor foul shooters, reducing games to free-throw-shooting contests. He also thinks the usage of the strategy has increased this year. Silver says he’s “beginning to feel a change needs to be made.”
Owners could address the issue at their meeting in Toronto on Sunday, but Silver insisted that no change will come this season.
Anthony wants to stay
Carmelo Anthony says he has no plans to leave the Knicks and is angry about a report linking him to trade talks.
A report in New York that the Cavaliers and Celtics had discussed a deal involving Kevin Love and there were “very preliminary discussions” with the Knicks about expanding it to include Anthony, who would end up with LeBron James in Cleveland.
Anthony, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, said he has had no conservations with the Knicks or anyone else about leaving the team.
James added that the reports were “false,” saying the Cavaliers weren’t worried about trade talks.
MJ gives a gift
Kobe Bryant has gotten one impressive retirement gift from Michael Jordan.
The Jordan Brand gave Bryant a full set of the sneakers released so far in the Air Jordan line — 30 pairs in all. Bryant got the Jordan set in white; the company made an alternate full black set in Bryant’s size 14, and they’re being auctioned off on eBay for charity.