Cleveland, Ohio.- Obi Toppin avenged his 2021 loss to Anfernee Simons to win the 2022 NBA Cleveland All-Star AT&T Slam Dunk Tournament, leaving Mexican-American Juan Toscano-Anderson in second place.
Toppin, of the New York Knicks (the franchise’s fifth winner in the tournament, after the consecrations of Kenny Walker in 1989 and Nate Robinson in 2006, 2009 and 2010) and Toscano-Anderson of the Golden State Warriors were the two best of a competition that this time had the legends Clyde Drexler, Dominique Wilkins, David Robinson, Julius Erving and Isiah Thomas as judges and that had Jalen Green of Houston Rockets and Cole Anthony of Orlando Magic eliminated in the first round.
The first attempt was made by Cole Anthony, who dressed in workman’s boots and his father Greg Anthony’s New York Knicks jersey to pick up the ball from Greg’s hands and bury it with great power on the third jump attempt (the first two did not count). He added 40 points, with a nine, a seven and three eights.
Juan Toscano-Anderson came out in second inning with a very Mexican touch, wearing the flag on his shoes and on some details of his Golden State Warriors clothing. He jumped over Andrew Wiggins for the dunk of him, who received an eight from David Robinson and nines from the rest for 44 points.
Obi Toppin passed third with a tremendous jump over passing the ball behind his back while jumping on a friend. Spectacular attempt by the Knicks, who took a 10 from Wilkins, two eights and two nines for 44 points.
Rookie Jalen Green spent several minutes trying jumpers until he finally managed to bury the ball the way he wanted, scoring 38 points on three eights and two sevens.
Green, the lowest scorer at the start, began the second round by improving on his opening score with 45 points by receiving five nines after taking a full turn in the air.
Needing at least a 44 to put himself in a good position to be a finalist, Cole Anthony failed to make a try and was eliminated with the minimum score of 30 points accumulating 70 in total.
Toscano needed a 40 to reach the final and performed a fairly classic acrobatic with a 360 and a dunk at the hoop for 43 points, with three nines and two eights that qualified him for the definition with his total of 87 units.
Toppin went for something classic but impressive: he bounced the ball off the glass, passed it under his legs in the air and almost let it slip a bit out of his hands before finishing, but he still put on a fantastic display of his ability jumping and added 46 points with the second 10 of the night, in this case from Clyde Drexler. With 90 points he was the highlight of the first round.
Juan Toscano-Anderson’s first attempt was not entirely spectacular, as he did not fully bury his arm in the rim and finished with four eights and one seven for 39 points.
Obi Toppin on his third attempt played it safe and went on to jump passing the ball between his legs, something classic for him, which gave him a 10 from Wilkins, three nines and an eight to add 45 points, taking an important advantage on Toscano before the final attempt.
With the jersey of Jason Richardson, a former Golden State Warriors player who was two-time champion of the tournament in 2002 and 2003 representing the franchise, Toscano went in search of the title but never managed to make his attempt with his back to the hoop and finished with the minimum of 30 points , which left Toppin insured as champion.
The one from the Knicks, already with the title assured, got two 10 (Robinson and Thomas) for a total of 47 points in the last attempt, in which he jumped from a corner, passed the ball between his legs and grazed it with the backboard before burying it in the hoop.
Information: NBA.
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