Terrence Ross of the Toronto Raptors wins the 2013 NBA Slam Dunk Contest
The Raptors' Terrence Ross is your 2013 Slam Dunk Contest champion. (Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
Terrence Ross is your 2013 Slam Dunk Contest champion. The Raptors' rookie bested Jeremy Evans in the championship round on the strength of a 180 wraparound dunk and a through-the-legs dunk over the ball boy. Evans, the 2012 champion, jumped over a painting of himself dunking and had a nice catch-and-dunk, but ultimately fell to Ross in the fan vote.
Find a complete recap of the 2013 dunk contest, complete with videos and commentary from Rob Mahoney, below.
And your champion is ...
Terrence Ross with 58 percent of the vote.
Here's a look at Ross' four dunks:
First Round
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Second Round
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Championship Round Part I
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Championship Round Part II
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(Videos via ESPYS2012)
Championship Round
Terrence Ross
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Dunk: Over the ball boy, through the legs, ending in one-handed jam
Rob Mahoney's Take:
This dunk really just rounds out Ross' contest-winning résumé, though it gets more interesting as you peel back the layers. Although Ross initially appeared to hurdle over some random ballcapped kid for a between-the-legs slam, Brett Pollakoff of ProBasketballTalk discovered in talking to Ross that the boy was the son of the guy who literally owns Twitter. It was a solid dunk to boot, though one clearly overshadowed by his previous showstopper.
(Video via ESPYS2012)
Jeremy Evans
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Dunk: Caught ball midair and jumped over tosser for one-handed jam
Rob Mahoney's Take:
Evans certainly made the final round interesting, primarily with this gravity-defying jam. There was nothing particularly innovative about what Evans did, and yet the way he did it completely warrants the awe it drew from the crowd. There was a moment in which Evans legitimately seemed to pause in midair; after clearing assisting Maverick Dahntay Jones and striking a scissor-kick pose, Evans' ascent came to a halt and he just … floated. It's the kind of dunking nuance that can only be captured in real time, but it gave Evans the opportunity to stare down the rim and nudge an otherwise simple dunk toward something extraordinary.
(Video via ESPYS2012)
Terrence Ross
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Dunk: Wearing a Carter jersey, Ross did a 180, wraparound dunk
Rob Mahoney's Take:
The preliminary rounds may have had some unexpected duds, but Terrence Ross and Jeremy Evans both finished up the slam dunk contest with impressive finishes and minimal frills. The highlight of the bunch was easily Ross' tribute to dunking icon Vince Carter, which capped off another side-of-the-backboard oop with a never-before-seen, lean-back-360 windmill. Yet even the most vivid descriptions won't do that dunk justice, as Ross' acrobatics give that particular finish its own undefinable character.
(Video via ESPYS2012)
Jeremy Evans
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Dunk: Windmill dunk over a picture of himself dunking
Rob Mahoney's Take:
Evans' other dunk in the finals featured him leaping over a blanketed easel for a lefty windmill, only to then lift the cover on the easel to reveal a painting -- an Evans original, in fact -- of him completing that very dunk. It was a neat gimmick as far as such things go, and Evans' finish was actually pretty impressive. Yet the entire act hinges on the prop, thus making the dunk itself a bit less memorable than it probably should be.
(Video via Kanye Chedda)
Jeremy Evans and Terrence Ross will go head-to-head in the championship round.
Team Round: Part 2
Jeremy Evans
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Dunk: 360 double-ball jam
Score: 43
Rob Mahoney's Take:
Ho-hum. Evans riffed on his double-dunk of last season by cradling two basketballs and dropping them through the net in succession. Unspectacular, but good enough to earn Evans a trip to the final round.
(Video via Alberto lopez de la osa platas)
Eric Bledsoe
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Dunk: Reverse windmill
Score: 50
Rob Mahoney's Take:
The best dunk of the round thus far, though it's not like Bledsoe has faced particularly tough competition. Bledsoe threw a lob to himself as all undersized dunkers tend to do, but grabbed the ball at basket level and then quickly converted a two-handed windmill reverse. This kind of dunk brings Bledsoe's speed and power into very clear perspective. No dunker in this contest isn't without athleticism or body control, but Bledsoe is just so fantastically fluid in executing these highly difficult finishes without a hitch.
(Video via ESPYS2012)
Kenneth Faried
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Dunk: Off-the-backboard, through the legs
Score: 50
Rob Mahoney's Take:
Nothing we haven't seen before, but Faried turned in a nice, straightforward jam after throwing a lob to himself off the glass and going between the legs. He might honestly make a dunk like this look a bit too easy -- and certainly far easier than it actually is -- but at this point we can all appreciate that Faried's turn didn't take too much time or too many tries. One miss due to a bad toss, and then an impressive finish.
(Video via ESPYS2012)
Terrence Ross:
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Dunk: Wraparound dunk off the backboard
Score: 49
Rob Mahoney's Take:
Maybe the judges were just a bit antsy after seeing so many missed dunks, but I'm not quite sure how Ross scored 49 points for a pretty simple dunk. Ross threw a high bounce for himself and contorted his way into a power finish, but I think he may have been rewarded a bit too much. Not that it really matters; Ross' first-round 50 and his teammates' second-round flubs all but assured that he'd make it to the final.
(Video via ESPYS2012)
Gerald Green
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Dunk: Green was unable to complete a through-the-hoop jam.
Score: 32
Rob Mahoney's Take:
This thing may have already jumped the shark. Green followed in James White's footsteps in missing his dunk attempt -- or really, combo dunk attempts -- a whopping seven times within the time limit. The design was pretty audacious to begin with: Green had snipped the net off the rim prior to his dunk attempts, and was trying to finish with his right, catch the ball as it came through the rim with his left and whip the ball back around for a second slam on the way down. It's a tough maneuver primarily because it can be so tricky to grab a just-dunked ball in mid-air, and Green didn't have much luck with all eyes on him. To make matters worse: he attempted the dunk one last time after he was given a meager 32 points, and completed it on his first try. Bummer.
(Video via ESPYS2012)
James White
Dunk: White was unable to complete a dunk
Score: 32
Rob Mahoney's Take:
The buzzkill begins. It's been quite a journey for a fringe NBAer like White to even make the dunk contest in the first place, and it appears the hype finally caught up to him. White initially intended to launch from the right side of the lane and finish with his left after going between the legs midair, and had he accomplished that dunk on any of his many attempts he likely would have made it to the final round. But White whiffed on three of his dunks on the approach and a few more in the air, sucking the anticipation out of the Toyota Center and killing his chances. He eventually tried to shift gears to do a windmill from the free throw line, but missed twice before his allotted time ran out and he struck out on a last-chance attempt. A disappointing showing from a promising participant.
Team Round: Part I
Jeremy Evans
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Dunk: Underhanded windmill with the aid of Mark Eaton
Score: 47
Rob Mahoney's Take:
Jeremy Evans has made a dunk contest habit of tipping his cap to the most prominent big men in Jazz history, and this year he brought out the 7-4 Mark Eaton to assist in his setup. Eaton sat -- negating some of the reason why you would pick a giant like him in the first place -- but nevertheless facilitated a fresh finish on a familiar trope. It's commonplace for today's dunkers to hurdle over teammates or legends, but Evans gave that setup some new life by grabbing the ball out of Eaton's outstretched hand and finishing on the far side of the hoop for a nice reverse. Bonus points for not decapitating Eaton in the process, sitting or not.
(Video via ESPYS2012)
Eric Bledsoe
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Rob Mahoney's Take:
The "unlimited dunk attempts within 1:30" rule doesn't just negate some of the drama that comes in seeing jaw-dropping athletes soar through the air, but also contributes to a very real fatigue that sets in as the attempts start to pile up. That's particularly true in the case of the pint-sized Eric Bledsoe, who whiffed four times on a nice, between-the-legs dunk, but settled for a simple right-hander that showed off his hang time. His finish had a bit more flair than most likely noticed (he initially went up with both hands, and spun into a one-handed finish), but not quite good enough to get it done against this level of competition.
Dunk: One-handed 180 slam
Score: 39
(Video via Alberto lopez de la osa platas)
Kenneth Faried
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Rob Mahoney's Take:
Kenneth Faried is the clear underdog in this contest for very good reason, and his first dunk showed why standout athleticism doesn't always translate well to a dunk contest setting. Nothing at all wrong with throwing the ball off the glass and finishing with a mid-air pirouette, but Faried's finishes just tend to look much more spectacular when he's sprinting at full speed and converting oops in a game setting.
Dunk: One-handed 360 off the backboard
Score: 39
(Video via ESPYS2012)
Terrence Rose
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Rob Mahoney's Take:
The fifth time was the charm for Ross, who still managed to get a perfect score by executing a dunk with a pretty high degree of difficulty. Ross' first dunk marked the first pure callback of the contest, as he virtually imitated J.R. Smith's sneaky good behind-the-back entry from the first round in the 2005 contest.
Dunk: Wraparound 360
Score: 50
(Video via ESPYS2012)
James White
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Rob Mahoney's Take:
Dunk purists may be suffering from prop fatigue, but James White accessorized his contest entry in the least obtrusive way possible. There was no skit, no backstory, and thankfully no pre-dunk interview. Just a flight crew and slew of stewardesses lining the runway for James "Flight" White, who unsurprisingly started off his dunk contest campaign by taking off from the free throw line. That launch point has become White's trademark over the years, and though he missed his first attempt and technically took off from a foot inside the line on his second try, he finished in style with a two-handed cock-back slam.
Dunk: Two-handed free-throw line dunk with the aid of a 'flight crew'
Score: 45
(Video via ESPYS2012)
Gerald Green
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Rob Mahoney's Take:
A perfect example of how a modern dunker can further a recent trend in a completely entertaining way. We've seen a number of dunkers (Blake Griffin, Derrick Williams, etc.) work with passes off of the side of the backboard in recent years, but Green took a perfect angle to extend his hangtime and opted for a double-clutch reverse finish. A slick, pure finish to kick off what promises to be a bounce-back contest.
Score: 50
(Video via Alberto lopez de la osa platas)
The judges tonight: Rudy Tomjanovich, Dikemeb Mutombo, Yao Ming and Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.
Props? They may be a thing of the past, according to this report from SBNation's NBA Twitter account:
https://twitter.com/SBNationNBA/statuses/302946477863477248
Predictions
The Point Forward's Rob Mahoney believes Gerald Green will reign supreme tonight. Here's a quick look at other predictions from around the web:
• Kobe Bryant thinks James White is the pick.
• USA TODAYpolled several players. Russell Westbrook is going Kenneth Faried; Dwyane Wade is picking Terrence Ross; and James White is picking ... himself.
• The crew over at SBNation is picking White, too.
• Jason Terry is also going with Green.
Jason Richardson
