Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine lived up to the hype and then some, thrilling the Barclays Center crowd with a dazzling display of dunking acumen.
He won the 2015 Slam Dunk Contest, posing a final-round score of 94 to beat out Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo.
LaVine's final slam was a between-the-legs dunk after catching an alley-oop off the stanchion:
As good as that dunk was, it wasn't even his best of the night. From start to finish, LaVine was by far the best competitor, and he was deservedly the champion.
He spoke about the win, per Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver:
You can view the full results below.
The contest got off to about the worst start imaginable. Brooklyn Nets big man Mason Plumlee threw down a somewhat underwhelming alley-oop reverse jam with some help from former Duke teammate Kyrie Irving.
Milwaukee Bucks guard/forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was even worse, failing to connect on any of his three attempts.
ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin found the best way to describe Giannis' struggles:
Oladipo brought the crowd back into it. He entered the court by serenading the Barclays Center with a rendition of "New York, New York," which immediately drew the fans' attention.
Luckily, his dunking was better than his singing, and he delivered a reverse jam under the basket, which earned a 50 from the judges.
The Washington Post's Michael Lee played the role of stickler, ruling that Oladipo only did one full revolution, rather than the one-and-a-half revolutions some initially said he did:
Still, it was a great dunk.
As good as Oladipo was with his first dunk, he couldn't hold a candle to LaVine. LaVine entered as the heavy favorite, and he proved why with a breathtaking first dunk that needs to be seen to be believed.
The theme for LaVine's dunk was Space Jam, which prompted this tweet from CBSSports.com's Tom Fornelli that made everyone feel old:
Although it was in a losing effort, Antetokounmpo and his brother, second-round draft pick Thanasis Antetokounmpo, had a cool moment in the first round. After Giannis completed his second dunk, he and Thanasis shared a selfie on the court:
That will likely be forgotten completely after LaVine's star-making performance.
LaVine stole the show again with his second dunk of the first round.
The Minnesota Timberwolves rookie threw the ball up to himself, and off the bounce he transferred it behind his back before throwing it down. Many fans have argued that every dunk has already been done before, but nobody's seen anything like what LaVine did.
Teammate Ricky Rubio was one of the millions of viewers at home and in the arena befuddled by what had just happened:
That was also the moment Oladipo, who had advanced to the final at that point, realized he had made a terrible mistake by entering the dunk contest at all, via CBS Sports:
LaVine earned a perfect 100 in the first round:
Oladipo joined him after a first-round 89.
Oladipo kicked off the final round in ignominious fashion, failing to put home any of his three dunk attempts and firmly putting the ball in LaVine's court.
LaVine didn't need much help, though. With an assist from teammate Andrew Wiggins, he went between the legs and executed a left-handed slam:
You could sense the pressure getting to Oladipo on his second dunk. After changing his plans mid-attempt, he ultimately settled for an alley-oop windmill from behind the basket. He earned only a 41, which meant LaVine essentially had to complete his dunk in order to win.
The Slam Dunk Contest got off to a dizzying start and kind of fizzled in the second half, especially with Oladipo failing to register a dunk the final round.
Still, Saturday's event capped off a fun night of basketball and breathed some life back into the dunk contest behind Lavine's incredible performance.
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