NBA All-Star Saturday Night 2020: Results, highlights, reaction

Miami Heat's Derrick Jones Jr. heads to the basket during the NBA All-Star slam dunk contest in Chicago, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)

Oftentimes the most anticipated event of all the festivities from NBA All-Star Weekend, All-Star Saturday Night went this Saturday.

Here are the complete results, some reaction and highlights from the annual showcase.

Slam Dunk Contest

Round 1 – first dunks: Aaron Gordon picked up right where he left off the last time we saw him in a dunk competition, leading things off with a 50-worthy, between-the-legs reverse.

However, for presentation alone, we’re gonna go with Pat Connaughton’s homage to Woody Harrelson’s Billy Hoyle from the 1992 classic “White Men Can’t Jump.” Come on judges! The man deserved way more than a 45!

Round 2 – second dunks: The second batch of dunks from the first round was one to remember, with each dunk earning a perfect score of 50.

First starting with Dwight Howard throwing it back to one of his old signature dunks from 12 years ago, taking off his jersey, putting on the cape and recreating his Superman slam, but this time he did it with the No. 24 emblazoned across his chest in honour of Kobe Bryant.

Afterwards, though it went unnoticed at first, Connaughton leapt over his MVP teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo, tapped the backboard and then flushed it home.

Following up on that, Derrick Jones Jr. went with ridulous a “tornado” 360 between-the-legs jam with the greatest of ease.

Lastly, Gordon brought the house down, again, this time, leap-frogging over Chance the Rapper, before twisting 180 degrees at the last moment to power it through so hard he bruised his wrist a little.

Final Round: The final came down to Gordon and Jones, who both put on a show reminiscent of the memorable 2016 standoff that Gordon was involved in with Zach LaVine.

Ultimately, it ended in controversial fashion with Jones winning even after Gordon jumped over seven-foot-five Tack Fall for his final dunk, but this was so awesome, really, everyone’s a winner, and the muted way it ended shouldn’t take away from what was a spectacular show.

Here’s all the dunks for your enjoyment:

Dame D.O.L.L.A. takes the stage

Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard is sidelined from court action this weekend with a groin strain, but that didn’t keep him participating in some of the all-star festivities.

A man of many talents, Lillard performed during All-Star Saturday Night as his rap persona Dame D.O.L.L.A.

Music is very subjective, so we’ll leave you to determine how you think he did.

One thing that was undeniably cool, though, was seeing him come out on stage in a “Mamba Forever” jacket.

3-Point Contest

Round 1: Filling in for the injured Lillard in both the all-star game and the three-point contest, Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker put on a show in the first round of the competition, finishing with a final score of 27, taking full advantage of the new 30-foot shots that are worth three points, en route to that final score.

Buddy Hield of the Sacramento Kings Also scored 27, mostly on the back of nailing six straight shots, five being his money ball rack, to finish his run.

Joining Booker and Hield in the final round will be Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans, who had 26.

Here’s a look at how all eight competitors performed:

Final Round: In a dramatic finish, Hield overcame a score of 26 set by Booker to win the competition with a final score of 27 on his final shot.

Skills Challenge

Round 1: In a sign of the way the game is moving, the first round concluded with an all-bigs first round upset of the guards.

Round 2: Unfortunately for Toronto Raptors fans, Pascal Siakam couldn’t advance to the final round of the competition. But in an interesting twist of fate, the two most “traditional” big men in the competition, Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers’ Domantas Sabonis, advanced to the final showdown with one another. Unicorns truly rule the NBA.

Final Round: Coming into this final showdown between two big men, the competition was showing a trend of the bigger man emerging victorious. Unfortunately for the six-foot-11 Sabonis, that didn’t hold true for him as the six-foot-nine Adebayo came away with with the first victory of the evening.

24.2 seconds of noise

Before anything else began, former NBA player Dwyane Wade and Los Angeles Sparks centre Candace Parker came out to address the United Center crowd in 24.2 seconds of loud ovation in honour of the recently departed former NBA commissioner David Stern, Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant, and his daughter Gianna.

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