'Highway robbery': Dennis Smith Jr. not happy about low dunk contest score
Dallas Mavericks guard Dennis Smith Jr. may have had the best dunk of the Verizon Slam Dunk contest Saturday night, but the low score given to his first dunk — a 39 out of 50 — kept him out of the finals of the four-man competition.
The rookie wasn’t happy about it, and voiced his frustration on social media afterward.
@Dennis1SmithJr Double pump= 39@VicOladipo No dunk= 31
What that look like?
— Dennis Smith Jr. (@Dennis1SmithJr) February 18, 2018
— nick (@nick_pants) February 18, 2018
For his first attempt, Smith attempted a 360 windmill but could not convert. After the miss, he switched things up and slammed home a double-pump reverse jam, yielding a score of 39 from the judges.
Based on his tweet, Smith is not happy that dunk received a score of 39 when Victor Oladipo received a 31 despite missing all three of his attempts at a two-handed reverse windmill.
Smith’s second dunk resulted in the first perfect score of the night, and deservedly so. Watch this:
The combined total of those two dunks, 89, fell behind finalists Donovan Mitchell (98) and Larry Nance Jr. (93). And in the end, Mitchell, with a Vince Carter tribute as his finale, bested Nance Jr. to take home the victory.
You be the judge. Does Smith Jr. have a legitimate beef?
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Sam Cooper is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
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