Saturday night’s NBA slam dunk contest ended in controversial fashion when Miami Heat’s Derrick Jones Jr. edged out Aaron Gordon during an epic final round.
Despite the fact that Gordon was able to dunk over Tacko Fall in his final dunk he was only given a score of 47 which was one short of Jones Jr.
Aaron Gordon OVER TACKO pic.twitter.com/3rb72VZyiV
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) February 16, 2020
According to dunk contest judge “Common” the judges had agreed to even up the tally of 48 to have the contest go to a judges choice but one of the judges went rogue.
Just spoke to dunk contest judge @common who tells @ESPN, “We thought it was going to be tied. We were like, ‘This is a tie’ …But somebody didn’t do it right. I don’t know who it is.” 👀👀👀
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) February 16, 2020
If the dunk contest was tied after that last dunk, the judges could have gone to a judges choice. Essentially, each would hold up a card with who was the best dunker all night. That’s what @common says he thought was the best outcome because “They were both so good.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) February 16, 2020
Just by looking at the reactions from the judges after the final score was shown you could tell it was Dwyane Wade who rigged the contest for his Miami Heat brethren.
The exact moment the dunk contest judges realized Dwyane Wade bamboozled them and rigged the contest. Peep Common and Scottie Pippen 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/BRLE2egJRY
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) February 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/FunGuyHi/status/1228996144350531585
In the end it doesn’t really matter who won because Saturday night’s dunk contest will always be remembered as one of the greatest dunk contests of all-time.
Here's every dunk in the epic final round between Derrick Jones Jr and Aaron Gordon #nbadunkcontest pic.twitter.com/vCrphbnc39
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) February 16, 2020