Before the contest, O’Neal had been boasting about being chosen as a judge, but now he must have been on pins and needles.
In the second dunk of the preliminaries, Gordon was up first again.
This time, he wasn’t alone; the Magic Team’s mascot, Magic Dragon, also dressed in uniform, took to the court as Gordon’s assistant.
Under the curious gazes of the fans, Gordon pulled off a dunk that shocked everyone.
He sprinted forward, and as he flew over the top of Magic Dragon’s head, he grabbed the ball from its hand in a "seated position" and then executed a reverse dunk under his own legs, switching hands!
It was done in one fluid motion!
In the instant that dunk was executed, everyone in the venue was stunned.
He knew about Gordon’s dunk, but watching it live was far more shocking than on broadcast.
Gordon interpreted the phrase "violent aesthetics" to perfection.
With such a dunk, the judges could no longer find fault, and they finally awarded a perfect score of 50 points.
Suddenly, the event became incredibly exciting.
Gordon, the one who was the least noticeable of the four, now scored 98 points with two dunks.
That meant the minimum score required for the remaining players to advance had become 99 points!
Or, to put it another way, only by scoring two consecutive 50s could one ensure advancement to the finals.
As Barkley sighed, this was definitely the most thrilling Slam Dunk Contest in NBA history!
Even Raven didn’t seem so relaxed now.
Then, he delivered a free-throw line windmill dunk!
That dunk made everyone’s jaw drop, overshadowing James’s previous free-throw line dunk.
"Is he even human?" Even Barkley’s eyes widened.
And when the camera focused on this sophomore, his HS Panda generation sneakers stood out prominently.
UA had indeed made a killing!
The judges also shook their heads in disbelief.
In theory, they should have held back some points because if they didn’t, Raven would have advanced straight away.
But with such a dunk, any judge who held back would be "infamous for eternity."
Ultimately, the judges gave out a perfect score of 50 points.
With two dunks totaling 100 points, Raven was the first to advance!
That score also meant that either James or Hansen was guaranteed to be eliminated in the preliminaries!
The Slam Dunk Contest had reached its most exhilarating part.
What seemed like a preliminary round had become a head-to-head contest between James and Hansen.
At that moment, James looked indescribably uncomfortable.
Perhaps at that moment, he regretted deciding to accept Hansen’s invitation to this year’s Slam Dunk Contest.
Because out of all the choices, he chose a contest with the strongest line-up in history!
James made his entrance, and the cheers of the crowd rose with him.
Never mind James, the fans felt immense pressure on his behalf.
Because the reason Gordon and Raven each got 50 points for their second dunks wasn’t that the dunks were worth 50 points, but because 50 was the highest score possible!
That meant James needed to pull off another "shockingly good" dunk, or he wouldn’t get those 50 points.
Frye, who had just competed in the Three-Point Contest, joined James on the court. For origınal chapters go to 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾·𝗇𝖾𝗍
Interestingly enough, Frye stood directly under the basket, not holding a ball.
The scene left everyone puzzled.
James started his sprint from the baseline and jumped from just over a meter away from the basket.
Unexpectedly, Frye also jumped at that moment, reaching out to block James.
But in the next second, James folded in mid-air to avoid the block and completed the dunk, gliding through the air!
The audience was dumbfounded.
Even Hansen was flabbergasted.
This... was that even possible?!
James completed the dunk in one attempt, and cheers erupted from the crowd.
The camera then returned to the judges.
From the tight frowns and constipated looks on their faces, it was clear this dunk was difficult to score.
Although it wasn’t as difficult as the previous two dunks, the creativity was excellent, and it was the kind that could dazzle spectators.
Finally, the judges started to reveal their scores.
points, 10 points, 10 points, 10 points.
McGrady was the last to press his score.
And his score was... 9 points!
If it weren’t for this edition of the Slam Dunk Contest, McGrady would have likely given 10 points.
But obviously, with Gordon and Raven setting such high standards, he could only give 9 points for that dunk!