Thunder guard Diallo wins All-Star slam dunk title

Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 17:12:29|Editor: Yurou
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WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Hamidou Diallo beat Dennis Smith of the New York Knicks to win the NBA All-Star slam dunk title on Saturday.

Diallo brought the house down with his second dunk of the first round, jumping over basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal to net a perfect 50 points from the judges.

"Great dunk," said Diallo, who also got some help in the opening dunk of the first round from Thunder All-Star Russell Westbrook. "The atmosphere was great and I came out and gave the crowd what they were looking for."

Diallo nailed his final two dunks of the competition and scored 88 points for the title while Smith finished second with 85 points.

Earlier, Brooklyn Nets forward Joe Harris beat 2015 champion Stephen Curry from the Golden State Warriors in the final to win the 3-point contest.

"Steph is the greatest shooter of all time," Harris said. "Shooting off the rack is not indicative of being a better shooter than Steph Curry. I don't want anyone to get it twisted at all. For me to come in and win on my first time, it's surreal. It's been an honor for me to be here, for me to participate this weekend, and it's something I'll remember for a long time."

Curry led the first round with 27 points to make it to the final round while the Sacramento Kings' Buddy Hield and Harris had 26 and 25 apiece to also advance. However, Harris was the consistent shooter of the final round, scoring 26 for the title. Curry made his first nine shots but was underperforming in the remaining time scoring 24 points for the second place. Hield had 19 points.

In the skills challenge, Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics hit a 3-pointer from just beyond midcourt to beat the Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young in the final round to win the title.

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