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Andrew LopezESPN
Portland’s Anfernee Simons was all smiles when he became the first Trail Blazers player to win the NBA dunk game, which took place during halftime of Sunday night’s All-Star Game in Atlanta.
Simons beat rookies Obi Toppin of the New York Knicks and Cassius Stanley of the Indiana Pacers to take home the trophy, which Simons called “ a dream come true. ”
Simons won the match over Toppin in the final round via a new rule called the “Judge’s choice”. Simons and Toppin each had one dunk in the round, and instead of a score, the five judges chose a name, with Simons getting three votes against Toppin’s two.
“Getting the chance to come in and be a part of it and win it, it’s unreal,” said Simons.
For his last dunk, Simons started in the corner and lobbed the ball up. When he caught it, he jumped as high as he could and blew a kiss on the edge while being as flush with it as possible. Although he missed the edge kissing, he did show off his vertical jump.
Simons said his goal for the last dunk was to kiss the edge, but he also wanted to make sure he didn’t hit his head.
“In practice, I never actually kissed the edge, but I was like, ‘I have to commit to it,’” said Simons. “I tried to insert a mouthpiece at the last minute, but it didn’t fit my mouth.
Simons said he went through wild ideas and actively joked about the kiss-the-rim dunk as he discussed his plans for the competition, before deciding to give it a shot.
“I was like, okay, ‘Let’s do it for real this time.’ Nobody had ever done that before, “said Simons.” Just a very unique and very creative thing to do. I think a few people can actually do it. I think that would show the judges a lot. “
On his first dunk, Simons had a mini hoop on the goal with a basketball on it. He ran from the side and grabbed the ball of the mini hoop – probably two feet above the rim – and dipped it into it. His second strike was a tribute to Tracy McGrady; Simons put on a T-Mac jersey and went with a 360 dunk of the bounce.
Introduced as “Slam Dunk Champion Anfernee Simons” during his post-game media availability, Simons just smiled and said, “Nice intro.”