Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton played his part in a memorable Dunk Contest, and should feel hard done by having failed to advance to the final.
A thoroughly entertaining All-Star Saturday night in Chicago wrapped up with a truly memorable Dunk Contest, and one that concluded on a note of contention too.
Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton was one of the first to fall foul of the judges’ erratic scoring on the night, but he certainly wasn’t the last by the time Derrick Jones Jr. held the trophy aloft at centercourt.
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Jones Jr. prevailed over perennial Dunk Contest runner-up Aaron Gordon in the final, with a decision that in spite of the Heat wing’s own exceptional performance, seemed completely nonsensical given that Gordon had just hurdled over the 7’5″ Celtics center Tacko Fall.
For Connaughton, his night had come to a close earlier, though. Connaughton enlisted the help of two Milwaukee MVPs, executed his dunks impressively, and offered up a nice mix of showmanship and innovative dunking.
That led to a combined score of 95, which saw him eliminated by just one point behind DerricK Jones Jr.
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at Connaughton’s dunks on the night, and dish out our own grades for Pat’s performance.
Note: As the Dunk Contest judges seem intent on flip-flopping on what’s an 8, 9, or 10 score, we’ll use letter grades to reset the scales.