CLEVELAND — Obi Toppin was the top dunker Saturday at NBA All-Star Weekend.
The New York Knicks forward went through the legs, tapped the ball off the backboard and finished with a one-handed slam to score a 47 on his final dunk and win the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
“We were talking before the dunk contest and were, like, ‘We want to come out here and do things that people have never seen before,'” Toppin said of conversation with Chuck Millan of Team Flight Brothers, a dunk coach he worked with to prepare for the night. “So those dunks, never been done in a dunk contest. I felt good being out there.”
He beat the Golden State Warriors‘ Juan Toscano-Anderson in an underwhelming final with Toscano-Anderson — while wearing the uniform of past Warriors dunk champion Jason Richardson — unable to convert his final dunk attempt after three tries.
“I think I got a little too overzealous just because the first one didn’t go my way,” he said.
Toppin, as a rookie, lost in the finals of last year’s dunk contest to Anfernee Simons of the Portland Trail Blazers.
“I knew I had to come back for my revenge from last year, and I had fun doing it,” Toppin said. “And we had a lot of great dunkers here today. I’m glad I came out with the W.”
In the first round, Toppin scored a 44 on his first dunk by leaping over Millan while wrapping the ball behind his back before slamming it home. Toscano-Anderson — while wearing a black Warriors uniform with his last name and number printed in white, green and red as a nod to his Mexican heritage — jumped over his Warriors teammate, Andrew Wiggins, while finishing a windmill dunk.
Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony, who wore his father Greg Anthony‘s No. 50 Knicks uniform and accessorized with a pair of Timberlands to complete the New York look, was out after the first round.
“When Cole missed those two first [attempts] with the Timbs on, I was, like, ‘Nah, them Timbs, them heavy, so we got to boost his energy up,'” said Toppin, who cheered on his competition. “I was trying to get everybody on their feet for him doing that.”
Houston Rockets rookie Jalen Green was also out after the first round. He couldn’t seize the moment after taking the court wearing a cellphone hanging from a diamond encrusted chain around his neck showing his past dunk highlights. He and teammate Kevin Porter Jr. struggled timing an alley-oop pass off the side of the backboard.
Toppin became the third player in Knicks history to win the contest, following Nate Robinson (2006, ’09, ’10) and Kenny “Sky” Walker (1989). Toppin also won the competition in Cleveland 25 years after a rookie Kobe Bryant won the Slam Dunk Contest in Cleveland, a fact that was not lost on him.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “There have been a lot of legends that have won the dunk contest, and for my name to be a part of that is something special. I don’t take it for granted.”