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After Golden State's Stephen Curry light the nets on fire with a 27-point final round in the Three-Point Contest, the high flyers got their chance. With four young guns, led by the Magic's Victor Oladipo, the contest was hoping to get a breath of fresh air.
After some underwhelming attempts by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Mason Plumlee, Oladipo brought the crowd to it's feet with a 540. The dunk, which Oladipo completed on his third and final attempt, netted him a perfect score of 50. The second-year man was matched by Minnesota's Zach LaVine, who threw down a monster between the legs dunk.
After two dunks from Antetokounmpo and Plumlee that were once again underwhelming, Oladipo came out with teammate Elfrid Payton for his second dunk. Payton threw the ball off the backboard for his backcourt mate, with Oladipo lightly dunking a 360. The dunk was scored as a 39, good enough to give Oladipo 89 points for the first round, passing him through to the finals. LaVine once again dazzled, scoring a 50 off a behind the back dunk.
With the finals set, two of the games electrifying, young guards faced off with a chance at glory. Unfortunately for Oladipo, he was unable to put down a dunk, scoring just 31 points for his first attempt of the finals. LaVine was able to throw down a dunk on his second attempt, with the assist coming from teammate Andrew Wiggins, being rewarded with a score of 45.
Going into their final dunk, it was an uphill battle for Oladipo. The Magic's starting shooting guard was unable to pull off a one-handed 360 dunk off a lob to himself, and ended up having Payton help him with a pass of the back of the backboard. Oladipo was able to throw it down, and ended up with a score of 41. LaVine once again used a teammate, throwing down a dunk off a pass from Shabazz Muhammad, earning himself a score of 49, good enough for a 72-94 win.
Oladipo was the first Magic man to appear in the dunk contest since Dwight Howard in 2009, who ended up losing to Nate Robinson in the finals. The former Indiana Hoosier became the fifth Magic player to appear in it overall. It wouldn't be a surprise to see Oladipo compete once again, especially considering how much he talked about wanting to do it before being selected this season.