Mac McClung ended up putting on a show to make a name for himself in the dunk contest. He ended up having a night for himself and NBA fans to remember.
After a slightly disappointing three-point contest, Trey Murphy, Kenyon Martin Jr., Jericho Sims, and Mac McClung put on a show to save the Saturday night lineup of the NBA All-Star Weekend.
The Dunk Contest started out with the perfect opening as Murphy faked missed his first and then teammate Jose Alvarado jokingly stole the ball and threw it up to Murphy for an amazing 360 dunk. He ended up scoring 46.6 points on this attempt.
Kenyon Martin was unable to continue the fun going as he needed three attempts to make a dunk where he went behind the rim for the side dunk. He ends up getting 46 points on this dunk. While it was a good idea, the dunk had bad execution and was a poor follow-up to Murphy’s dunk.
Jericho Sims followed with a dunk that looked like a football player dunking the ball and he threw it with two hands. While it was very impressive physically, it wasn’t really fun to watch. He scored 47 off the physical dunk.
Mac McClung saved All-Star Weekend by going over two people to dunk the ball. One of the people on the dunk was on the shoulders of the other man, which made it more impressive. He hit the glass as well which seemed to be on purpose. He got a 50 for the dunk.
Mac McClung owned the NBA Dunk Contest
In the second round, Martin went first, trying to put on a show that he couldn’t really pull off with a lay-in from his father, Kenyon Martin, the former Nuggets star. While the moment was very nice to see, the dunk wasn’t super impressive. He ended up with a score of 47 points.
Murphy wanted to add to the spectacle by asking for help from the judges, then took a mic, and went straight line for a dunk that was stone cold. The dunk didn’t look good on replay but it felt amazing live. His score was 49.4.
On Sims’ second attempt, he got a ladder and put a notecard on the net. He ended up doing the same dunk as the first one but it was kinda embarrassing as he unveiled the notecard after the dunk. The Notecard said 50, which looked very weird in real time. The score ended up as 47.
Mac McClung ended the second round with an amazing three-sixty dunk where Jamal Crawford knew it was a 50. The former NBA player threw out the 50 sign and the crowd was loving the show.
By this point, McClung had proved that he deserved to be in the dunk contest. He ended up with 49.8 as Lisa Leslie did not give him his only 50 of the night. McClung went off in his two dunks going crazy with hesitation for one and a three-sixty (wearing his high school jersey) for the other.
Murphy ended up doing two dunks that were very similar to the other two. Those two were pretty good but they were very same as the other ones.
What does this win mean for McClung?
While McClung has bounced around the league and has been on multiple G-league squads in his time in the NBA, he certainly made his name tonight. It is unclear whether he will have a future in the NBA, but for one night McClung was the best part of Utah’s Saturday All-Star night.
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