Aaron Gordon was the real winner of the Dunk Contest

Zach LaVine may have taken the trophy home, but the Orlando Magic’s Aaron Gordon was the real winner Saturday for getting the NBA world buzzing again.

The Slam Dunk Contest is about visceral reactions.

The dunk itself is an emotional explosion of raw power and athleticism. A statement of youth and defiance that can embarrass even good defense and leave a lasting impression.

Every year, plenty claim the Dunk Contest is dead. That it cannot be resurrected by anything or anyone. Not until stars come back to the contest. There may be one great performer, but no one to test him and no one to show what he can really do. All the good ideas are taken they said.

When they do have good dunks, they miss too many attempts and take the juice out of each attempt. The anticipation is gone and the dunks unimpressive.

The judges are subjective and often from an older generation that remembers the 1988 dunk showdown between Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins or the 2000 mastery of Vince Carter.

There is so much working against the Dunk Contest every year. It is such a battle of perception. An appeal to appease the greats and the masters.

When there is truly a contest that gets everyone up, the buzz is palpable. It happened last year when Victor Oladipo set the arena ablaze and then Zach LaVine nuked it down. It was easy to see on Oladipo he knew the contest was over and he was fighting for second place.

That buzz was present in Toronto no matter where someone was watching the contest — at Air Canada Centre, at the Orlando Magic watch party at Graffiti Junktion, on NBA Twitter or at home — they were seeing something new. Even the skeptics had to sit back and be impressed.

Aaron Gordon and Zach LaVine could have kept dunking forever and put up 50s. The ease with which they pulled off difficult dunks — Gordon was the only one of the two that officially missed a dunk on his second attempt, the first he used Stuff for — was breathtaking. The audience wanted more and certainly booed when the judges cut it off — on an impressive dunk by Gordon that needed slow motion to be truly appreciated.

LaVine lifted the trophy, but it was clear both by watching the contest and by the reaction on Twitter, Gordon was the true champion of the 2016 Verizon Slam Dunk Contest.

The dunk is such a visceral and emotional play. It really cannot be quantified. What is “good” is hard to quantify. You just know what you see it.

What the dunk contest becomes in the years after is a collection of images and stories. It is a feeling that you remember when you look back at it.

The grace and athleticism of Dominique Wilkins battling Michael Jordan in 1988. The raw athleticism of Vince Carter in 2000. The theatrical plays by Cedric Ceballos in Orlando in 1992 and Dee Brown in 1991 — long before theatrics became required to the contest. The raw power of Dwight Howard in 2008 and his scary leaping ability in 2007.

Cheap gimmicks rarely win. No one cares now about Blake Griffin jumping over a car or Jeremy Evans‘ leaping over Kevin Hart. Paul George‘s glow-in-the-dark idea was poorly executed and a joke in the end.

Those were contests that were lampooned and decried. The public knew very much that it was getting something bad.

This was a contest no one wanted to end. And its lasting images all belonged to Gordon.

The vision of Stuff rotating on his hoverboard and Gordon grabbing the ball in mid-air with one hand for a windmill dunk was nice. It brought the contest to an even higher level as Gordon seemed ready to top his previous dunks.

The image of Gordon hanging suspended in mid air, his legs horizontal to the ground as he cleared Stuff, was just jaw dropping as a still.

An absolutely filthy Getty pic that shows Gordon in full sitting position on one of the greatest dunks ever. pic.twitter.com/b3ypPT7Je2
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 14, 2016

It is an unreal image. Humans are not supposed to jump that high, let alone sit down, let alone put a ball under their legs, let alone dunk successfully.

Everyone knew what they were seeing was truly special and that Gordon had the goods.

This is not to say LaVine did not put on some incredible dunks. He and Gordon could keep fighting in dunk contests forever and still come up with incredibly effortless yet athletically amazing dunks.

LaVine was a worthy champion.

In the hours after the dunk contest, no one was displaying stills of LaVine in mid air — although those images are still amazing and unbelievable considering the ease with which he flew from the free throw line on three dunks. It was all Gordon.

LaVine did tricks from the free throw line, taking a spin on something that has been done over and over again and making it look easy. Gordon did something entirely new.