Orlando Magic’s Cole Anthony went for broke in the dunk contest

Cole Anthony had the unenviable spot of being the first one up in the dunk contest.

He was the one who was going to set the tone. And he probably did not want it any other way.

Anthony is a showman. He is not afraid to say the first thing that pops into his head on a hot mic or speak things into existence. The 6-foot-3 guard’s presence in this dunk contest started with a campaign on his Instagram story. He is not the guy anybody thought would be in this contest.

So Anthony got his chance to put on a show first.

As always, Anthony went for it. He went all-in on his ideas. It was authentically Cole.

Cole Anthony has never done anything small. And in his appearance in the NBA’s Dunk Contest, he went for it all with a chance to show off on the big stage.

Cole Anthony promised he was going to make sure his father Greg Anthony’s name stayed alive. So he donned his No. 50 New York Knicks jersey. Cole then proceeded to put on a pair of Timberland shoes, a New York staple, and tried to land a windmill while grabbing the ball from his father’s outstretched hand.

"“I’m from New York. I wanted to show New York a bit of love,” Anthony said after Saturday’s contest. “I was raised there. I’ve always been in love with New York. I thought having the Timbs on would have gotten me a little more credit. You know Timbs are heavy. Y’all in Orlando might know how heavy Timbs are. Those are like bricks on your feet. I probably could have done a little bit more. I could have done a little more, like a reverse windmill next time, I don’t think there will be a next time.”"

Anthony has always been loud and unabashedly himself. And if there was something everyone saw from Anthony during his short run in the dunk contest — he failed to make the Finals after missing his second attempt in the allotted three tries.

New York Knicks forward Obi Toppin ended up winning the contest in an underwhelming competition overall.

He did a dance as his father took out the showed he would be changing into for his first dunk. He kept chatting and trying to pump up the crowd as he went into each attempt.

And, in the end, he was determined to get his dunks in. Perhaps even to his detriment.

It was not a perfect night obviously. Anthony did not bring the trophy home. But he lived out his dream of participating in the dunk contest. Even if he bit off more than he could chew.

Go big or go home right?

“I thought the first one was solid,” Anthony said after Saturday’s contest. “I did my best attempt. I had the moonwalk going getting light, getting crazy. The charisms didn’t go through for me.”

Anthony’s first dunk was a great dunk. But one that took several attempts to complete. And switching out his adidas sneakers for the designer shoes took a bit too long.

If he had landed it quickly, he might have still had the crowd with him. But with each false start and a few failed attempts, the atmosphere cooled. When he finally completed it, it was too late. Anthony ended up with just a 40 for the effort.

His second dunk was an almost certain 50 if he could have landed it. It almost certainly would have put him through to the second round.

The 6-foot-3 guard threw the ball into the air from the 3-point line and then tried to grab it with one hand while doing a 360 before coming down with the dunk.

Anthony failed to clear the front of the rim with his first attempt, seemingly hurting his wrist or thumb in the process. He sent his second attempt careening into the bench as his pass went perhaps a bit too deep. And his third attempt went off the back iron.

There was no safe dunk for Anthony. Needing to make up a deficit to reach the finals, this one had to work.

And it was unfortunate he was not able to maintain the momentum that his showmanship and ambition had. Again, Anthony has never been afraid to go big.

There is always value in the attempt though. And Anthony has always been someone to take moments like these in stride.

He made some minor headlines during the Rising Stars game for his attempt to distract Desmond Bane at the foul line. But his play throughout much of the game did some talking, throwing up some nice alley-oops and finishing off a dunk of his own from Jalen Suggs at a critical moment of the game.

It is still really easy to forget how young he is.

But the one thing Magic fans have learned about Anthony in two years is that Anthony is comfortable with himself. He knows he still has a lot of his game to grow and develop. But Anthony is authentically himself.

Whether that comes in the form of boisterous postgame interviews. Or him hyping up his teammates with exuberant celebrations. Or his scoring intensity to attack the basket and control the tempo of the game.

There is a lot of maturing and fine-tuning to go. Anthony will be the first to tell anyone that.

But he always goes big. He always does it his way.

He hopes the next time he is at All-Star Weekend it will be for the Sunday showcase.

Saturday’s dunk contest showed Anthony trying to have it that way too. He went for it. He went for it all.

And he was never afraid to do what he believed in. That is the Cole Anthony the Magic have come to know. Even coming up short, Anthony never wavered or gave into that big vision. It is too bad we did not get to see what else he had planned.

We know it would have been big.