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Michael C. Wright
SAN FRANCISCO — Mac McClung dialed up a retro move Saturday night in setting the tone to make NBA history as the only player to win three consecutive slam dunk contest titles.
The G League star’s team parked a silver Kia sedan under the basket, reminiscent of the prop used in the 2011 dunk contest by Blake Griffin, and the 26-year old soared over it, flashing championship form on a night Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard failed in his bid to win a third-straight 3-point contest title.
Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro bested the field in that event to become the fifth player in franchise history to win a 3-point contest championship.
“I was extremely honored to be a part of this weekend,” McClung said. “I genuinely love this contest and [I’m] just very appreciative.”
McClung’s opening-round dunk generated a score of 50, and he posted four jams worth 50 points to become one of four players with at least four such dunks in a single dunk contest. The other three are Zach LaVine (2016), Aaron Gordon (2020) and Derrick Jones Jr. (2020), according to ESPN Research.
McClung cleared the Kia on his first dunk, as an assistant with his head poked out of the sunroof of the car held the basketball.
Despite the eye-popping tone-setter, McClung found himself in a hotly contested final showdown with San Antonio rookie guard Stephon Castle, who logged a score of 99.6 in the last round and narrowly finished second. Castle is just the fourth Spur to compete in the event, and the first since 1988 (Greg Anderson).
“I felt like my third dunk should have been a 50,” Castle said. “We could’ve [gone] to a dunk-off. I don’t know if that’s what the crowd would’ve wanted. But overall, I was happy with it.”
McClung failed to stick the landing on his first dunk attempt. His left heel nipped the front of the car. But that mattered little to the crowd at Chase Center after such a stirring dunk, executed on the strength of weeks of practice using a friend’s car.
McClung admitted when he first started practicing the dunk, “I was like, I can’t do this dunk. I’m landing on the car. I can’t do it. The guy I worked with for dunks, he helped me. He was just like, ‘Just jump over the car.’ I’m like, ‘It’s not that easy, man.’ They taught me a technique how to do it, and we got it like three, four times in a row and I felt confident doing it.”
It certainly showed on that jam and in the later rounds.
McClung later announced that he would donate the car he jumped over to a foundation in need in his hometown of Gate City, Virginia.
In the 3-point contest, Lillard fell short of his three-peat bid in the opening round. An Oakland native, Lillard finished with 16 points, which wasn’t enough for him to advance. Golden State’s Buddy Hield dropped a record-tying 31 points in the first round to move on to the second round with Herro and Cleveland guard Darius Garland.
“I feel like a lot of great shooters, some of the greats to play this game have won this competition,” Herro said. “Just happy to put my name in the history books for All-Star Weekend.”
Herro defeated Hield in the final round of the contest, edging him 24-23.
Competing in his home arena, Hield started the final round slowly and needed to hit his last five attempts to win the competition. Hield connected on his first three shots on the final rack of balls but missed the fourth before sinking the fifth.
“I didn’t know what his score was at, so I couldn’t figure out what’s my score [needed to win],” Hield said. “Bad start. It’s all good, though. It felt great [to compete in front of Warriors fans]. I’m just disappointed I lost.”