It was a battle that ended in conspiracy, tiebreakers, unbelievable dunks, and more: Miami Heat's Derrick Jones Jr. won the NBA dunk contest in a neck-and-neck battle with Orlando Magic's Aaron Gordon.
After two tie-breaking dunk-offs, the judges awarded Jones Jr. the victory-- a decision they claimed afterward was made in error: "We thought it was going to be tied. We were like, 'This is a tie!'" Common, who was judging for the event, told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne. "But somebody didn't do it right. I don't know who it is."
Candace Parker, who was also on the judges' panel, confirmed they had intended the second dunk-off to end in a tie as well.
The final score was decided after Jones Jr. earned a 48 for a free throw line (close enough) windmill dunk and Gordon notched only a 47 for dunking over 7-foot-5 Boston Celtics rookie Tacko Fall.
"I did four straight 50s -- five straight 50s," Gordon said. "That's over. It's a wrap. Let's go home. Four 50s in a row in an NBA dunk contest, it's over. But I don't know. Who's running the show?
"It's a wrap, bro," he said. "I feel like I should have two trophies."
The NBA All-Star Game tips off Sunday at 8:00 PM EST.
Joe Rogan’s UFC 247 Criticism Leads To Swift Response From Commission
Joe Rogan accused a UFC judge of not watching the fights.
UFC 247 was an exciting event that saw Jon Bones Jones defeat Dominick Reyes in a close fight. Many felt as though Reyes won but in the end, it was scored in favor of Jones. Quite a few fans had something to say about and the judges were put into question. During a preliminary bout between Andrea Lee and Lauren Murphy, UFC commentator Joe Rogan pointed out that a judge was looking at the ground instead of the actual fight. All throughout the evening, the judges were scrutinized and the Texas Department of Licensure and Regulation took notice.
Recently, the commission's spokesperson, Tela Mange, explained what went down and how Rogan's claims aren't 100 percent accurate. As they explained, there are monitors at the feet of each judge. These monitors give a closer look at what's happening. With this in mind, it's easy to see why Rogan would think the judge wasn't paying attention.
“Claims have been made that a judge was not paying attention to the fight and was looking down at the floor. One of the advances that UFC has made in the past several years has been to provide small video monitors below the floor level of the Octagon for each judge to more closely monitor matches,” Mange said the South China Morning Post.
Who do you think won the match between Jones and Reyes? Let us know in the comments, below.
