The Portland Trail Blazers guard took the trophy after beating New York Knicks pivot Obi Toppin in the final.
This Sunday, Anfernee Simons was proclaimed champion of the dunk tournament in the NBA AllStar Game 2021 . The base of the Portland Trail Blazers showed that his 190 centimeters of height does not limit him in anything and he took the dunk contest by divided decision of the jury.
The 21-year-old Simons emerged as the leading candidate to win the trophy in the first round, where he scored 95 points between his two dunks to advance to the final and even had the highest individual score of the night with 49, after performing a 360 ° turn in the air that took four tens and one nine from the judges.
Anfernee Simons, the best ‘matador’ in a very decaffeinated contest
Meanwhile, the other basketball player who advanced to the decisive instance was New York Knicks pivot Obi Toppin, who received a total of 94 points, while Indiana Pacers guard Cassius Stanley was eliminated after accumulating a score of 81.
In the round for the prize, Simons surprised everyone with a jump that was made even more impressive with the slow motion detail. Is that, after capturing the ball in the air, he rose to 3.05 meters in height and brought his mouth towards the ring to give him a kiss, which failed to materialize for a few centimeters away.
Meanwhile, Toppin took advantage of his 206 centimeters tall and improvised a shocking jump, while he passed the ball under his leg and then buried it with his right hand.
After viewing both performances, the elite jury, consisting of Dominique Wilkins, Spud Webb, Josh Smith, Jason Richardson and Dee Brown (all winners of the challenge), awarded Simons by split decision, with three votes to two. In that way, the Portland player became the king of dunks.
Due to the context conditioned by the coronavirus pandemic, the competition was reduced to only three participants and took place during the NBA AllStar Game 2021 halftime.