The NBA Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday night gave us a lot of surprises and one of the best dunks of all time, courtesy of Hamidou Diallo. The story of the night wasn’t just the dunks that were attempted, but how people watching dealt with what was going down.
The 5 best crowd reactions from the NBA Slam Dunk contest
Giannis, Shaq and Steph won the night.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
These are the 5 best reactions from the NBA dunk contest.
No. 1 — Giannis can’t believe J. Cole almost dunked.
Dennis Smith Jr. executed one of most-complete thematic dunks of the night, as the Fayetteville, NC native jumped over fellow Fayetteville native J. Cole while wearing Cole’s high school jersey from his time as a player at Terry Sanford High School.
After it was over Cole decided he wanted in on the dunking act, rising up for a really solid attempt that he couldn’t quite throw down. Nonetheless, Giannis Antetokounmpo was loving it.
No. 2 — Scared Shaq.
Shaq was kind of a participant here, so I don’t know if he really counts — but I don’t care. I love scared Shaq so much. This came from the dunk of the night, in which Diallo jumped over Shaq, and did the honey dip for good measure.
It was a truly iconic dunk, and Shaq barely had a chance to realize what happened when Diallo’s legs came swinging back in his direction. O’Neal was terrified, it was all delightful.
No. 3 — Nervous Steph.
When you wait to find out what your tax return is going to be.
No. 4 — Benny the Bull, ball of anxiety.
Benny was at the dunk contest and saw absolutely nothing out of fear. I don’t really know why he was so scared exactly, but Benny was absolutely terrified.
No. 5 — Devin Booker and his Handycam.
I love that Booker was out there like a dad at a little league game recording everything. I also like that he might be the only person left with a legit Handycam. I respect that for a lot of reasons.
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