Victor Oladipo pops on All-Star Saturday Night
Victor Oladipo created the first big buzz of the Sprite Slam Dunk and delivered an entertaining show. Just not enough to pass Zach LaVine and win.
Victor Oladipo came waltzing out of the tunnel for the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, following up on a weak dunk from the Nets’ Mason Plumlee and a failed dunk attempt from Giannis Antetokounmpo, the much maligned Sprite Slam Dunk Contest needed a spark.
Oladipo, microphone in hand, started crooning “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra. His pitch is not quite Sinatra (no one’s is), but it got the pop he needed. The fans were on board with Oladipo.
And after two attempts, Oladipo got the contest started the way it needed to.
His 540 drew a perfect score, the first of the night, and set the tone for what would be an incredible night of dunking.
Unfortunately, this was not Victor’s story. This night belonged to Zach LaVine.
LaVine came out the Quad City DJs singing “Space Jam” and began his onslaught on the rim. LaVine too would score a 50 and set the tone for the rest of the dunks.
Oladipo would have to try harder and harder dunks just to keep up in the finals. He could not quite get there.
His third dunk attempt (neither Plumlee nor Antetokounmpo could score enough to push either Oladipo or LaVine so long as they made their second dunks which Oladipo did and LaVine did EMPHATICALLY) fell short as he tried to take the ball from Elfrid Payton sitting in a chair put it between his legs and dunk it. He could not quite get it in three attempts.
LaVine was flawless (except for Tiny Archibald giving him a nine on his final dunk).
This was LaVine’s night. Oladipo went for broke in the finals because he had to in order to match up with LaVine. Oladipo probably would have won this dunk contest on most nights, but he was going up against a man built to win dunk contests.
Oladipo did himself proud though. If the point was to get himself on the map and get notice in front of a national audience, he certainly did that. Even in attempting impossible dunks, he brought the noise. His first attempt brought the crowd to its feet and he seemed a natural in front of the crowd.
Again, he ran into a juggernaut.
Oladipo may not get the Q-score bump he was hoping for even though he put in a strong performance that would probably have won most years. He shined in his first step into the spotlight and seemed to enjoy the experience in doing so.
At the end of the day that is what matters. Oladipo did his work and put on a great show.
The Magic can look back at this All-Star Weekend and feel relatively good about their showing. Even Anfernee Hardaway stepped to the plate and did his jersey proud, hitting his two shots in the Degree Shooting Stars Challenge to get his team of Russell Westbrook and Tamika Catchings to the finals.
He made his half-court shot in the first round, but his team failed to do so in the second round. The team of Chris Bosh, Dominique Wilkins and Swin Cash won their third straight competition.
Elfrid Payton lazed his way through the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, getting easily defeated by Jeff Teague in the first round. Patrick Beverley went on to win the whole thing.
Stephen Curry won the much-anticipated Foot Locker 3-Point Shootout, defeating teammate Klay Thompson and former champion Kyrie Irving.
This night for the Magic belonged to Victor Oladipo. He announced himself to the basketball stage with his impressive athleticism and creativity. It just was not his night to win and make that complete step to thrust himself into the spotlight.
But, man, was it fun anyway.