The Bucks' Pat Connaughton unable to gain enough approval of judges to make finals of dunk contest

CHICAGO - The story of the 2020 NBA Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday night at the United Center will long be remembered for the controversial dunk-off between Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic and Derrick Jones Jr. of the Miami Heat.

After each dunker recorded three straight perfect scores – two in the finals and one in a dunk-off round – Jones opened the second dunk-off round by taking flight from a step inside the free-throw line and throwing down a jam that earned a 48. Gordon responded by finding 7-foot-5 Boston Celtics two-way center Tacko Fall in the crowd, bringing him out and proceeding to soar over Fall for a dunk that brought down the house and seemed to seal his victory.

But when the votes of the judges – Dwyane Wade, Common, Candace Parker, Chadwick Boseman and Scottie Pippen – were displayed, Gordon only had a 47, making Jones the champion.

"No, I don't even know who gave me the 9s," Gordon said. "I'm going to find them. Trust me, I'm going to find them tonight. But really, we're here to do four dunks. So out of four dunks, it should be the best out of four dunks.

"I did four straight 50s – five straight 50s. That's over. It's a wrap. Let's go home. Four 50s in a row in an NBA Dunk Contest, it's over. But I don't know. Who's running the show?"

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It'll almost get certainly get lost to time after the show Gordon and Jones put on, but the Milwaukee Bucks and local fans may continue to remember another controversial decision from Saturday's contest. Bucks guard Pat Connaughton, competing in the event for the first time, missed the finals after two impressive dunks, falling a point shy of Jones.

The issue was Connaughton's first dunk, one in which he dressed up as the character Billy Hoyle from the 1992 movie "White Men Can't Jump" and jumped over 6-foot-3 Milwaukee Brewers outfielder and former MLB MVP Christian Yelich, who was wearing a vintage Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Bucks jersey. He also completed the dunk on his first attempt, something none of the other three dunks did in the opening round.

His score was a 45 out of 50, one behind Jones' first-round dunk over teammate Bam Adebayo. Wade – who played on the Heat with Jones and Adebayo – gave Connaughton an 8.

Both dunkers then scored 50s in the second round, meaning Connaughton was eliminated.

"I think, hopefully, there will be a lot of people that think I should have been in the finals of this contest," Connaughton said. "Not sure that there’s a little bit of controversy considering they were teammates at one point in time, but I will say it was a phenomenal contest. At the end of the day, the score that he gave me that caused me to miss the finals, it made the show go pretty well so I can’t complain.

"It was fun to be a part of. I would have liked to come home with the trophy, obviously, but I don’t think anybody was expecting me to be able to pull out the dunks that I did.”

The dunks themselves were impressive. The dunk over Yelich – with Yelich standing with his back to Connaughton and the ball held behind his head – gave Connaughton confidence off the jump because of the fact that he was able to execute it perfectly in one go.

"I tried to make sure it was a dunk I knew I could do, but also one that people didn’t know I could do," Connaughton said. "So I tried to do that balance."

The theatrics of the dunk – getting in costume and incorporating Yelich – were Connaughton's way of trying to be add some of his own flair to the contest. A former MLB draft pick by the Baltimore Orioles, Connaughton thought bringing in Yelich would fuse his own passion for baseball and Milwaukee.

His homage to "White Men Can't Jump" – a dunk the Bucks teased via social media in the run-up to the event – was also a personal touch.

"One of the things that I’ve always had fun with is the stereotype ‘white man can’t jump,’" Connaughton said. "It’s followed me along my whole career and it’s something that obviously I’ve tried to disprove many times. Hopefully, this has helped more than just the avid Milwaukee Bucks fans to see that theory is disproven."

Connaughton's second dunk included another MVP, his teammate and all-star captain Giannis Antetokounmpo. In a dunk the two hadn't practiced, Antetokounmpo stood like Yelich, facing the rim with his back to Connaughton, with Connaughton aiming to jump over his 6-foot-11 teammates.

It took some time to work out the kinks. Connaughton aborted his first two attempts mid-air.

"I had to make a quick adjustment on the first two times – his hands are bigger than I thought," Connaughton said. "It was like I was trying to get a rebound from him, like, you can’t take it from him. The hands are too big. So I had to adjust his hands a little bit so I could get the ball in my hands.”

Connaughton's third attempt worked as he took the ball from Antetokounmpo and snuck it over the rim. At first, it didn't bring the same rise out of the crowd his first dunk had.

However, most people had missed the subtle, extra step he added between the grab and the dunk. As he went up to the rim, Connaughton tapped the ball first against the backboard, a move that he made sure to point out after putting it down.

When the replay played inside the United Center the crowd gasped and cheered while Connaughton leaned up against the judges' table, staring them down. The result was a perfect score off a dunk that was partially inspired by Connaughton's dunking opponent, Dwight Howard.

"So, being a guy that has obviously loved dunk contests since I was a kid, I actually remembered Dwight's dunk contest where he put the sticker on the backboard and nobody really realized it until it was too late," Connaughton said. "The judges had already put their score in. I wanted to make sure first and foremost I got the dunk, but I also wanted to point to it a little bit. Make sure they saw the replay before they put any scores in because I think people in the beginning just thought I jumped over a taller person, but when you add that element to it.

"The tap of the backboard, that's a lot of body control, I've gotta be hanging in the air for a quite a bit of time. I wanted to make sure that didn't go unnoticed. I think the first dunk should have been a 50 also, but there were a lot of 50s thrown around tonight, so I was happy I at least got one of them."

Despite believing he should have been in the finals, Connaughton was right there courtside with his phone out alongside Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and other NBA players going wild as Jones and Gordon put on a show. By the end of the night, Antetokounmpo couldn't stop singing his teammate's praises.

"He just said he was going to jump over me and he did and he got a 50," Antetokounmpo told Bucks.com. "Bro, he killed it. Pat killed it. I’m extremely proud of him. That’s amazing.”

Most importantly, Connaughton came out of the experience feeling like he had lived a dream and, for the most part, accomplished what he set out to do. He threw down entertaining dunks that were uniquely representative of him, he incorporated a couple Milwaukee MVPs and proved he belonged.

After a long campaign to just get invited to participate, it definitely wouldn't be controversial if he was asked to dunk again in the future.

"We'll see if I get the invite back," Connaughton said. "It was hard enough to get the first invite, but hopefully with the showing I put on, the invites come a little more easy. Maybe they're not sent by carrier pigeon. Maybe they're sent by overnight. We'll see."