Mac McClung dunks over Shaq to win second-straight NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Mac McClung went back to school and won his second consecutive NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

He asked Shaquille O’Neal to squeeze into McClung’s old high school jersey, then grabbed the ball out of Shaq’s hands and vaulted over the 7-foot-2 Hall of Famer to get five perfect scores on his final attempt on Saturday night.

McClung collected 98.8 points on his final two dunks, while Boston Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown finished with 97.8.

“Shaq was so cool putting on that high school jersey, man, it almost made me emotional that he would do that,” McClung said. “When he put it on, he said, ‘You better not miss it.’ I said, ‘Okay, I won’t miss it.’”

Unlike some of his previous attempts, McClung made this dunk on his first attempt and was rewarded handsomely by the five judges.

As a result, the high-flying, 6-foot-2 guard who plays for Orlando’s G League affiliate, the Osceola Magic, became the sixth player with two or more Dunk Contest titles and the first to win in consecutive seasons since Zach LaVine. in 2015 and 2016.

Will he go for an unprecedented third title in a row next year?

“I don’t know. We’ll think about it,” said McClung, who led his team to the G League championship last year. “I’m not sure yet.”

The only player with three NBA Slam Dunk crowns is Nate Robinson, but they did not come in a row.

McClung jumped over two people during his first dunk in the final round. Brown paid tribute to the late Terrence Clark, a Massachusetts prep star who died in a car accident in April 2021 at the age of 19.

McClung needed an even higher score after four judges gave Brown a 49 and the other awarded a 50 on his final dunk, a left-handed slam over one with a Michael Jackson-esque sequined glove covering his left hand.

McClung then picked O’Neal out of the crowd, asked him to act as a prop and delivered the dunk of the night.

“It was like, ‘Okay, you really need to bring something, and I think they want us to make our dunks on the first try,’ which I totally understand,” McClung said. “So I knew it was time to register for the finals.”

Three-point contest

Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard defended his three-point title by finishing with 26 points in the final round.

Lillard, who won last season while with Portland, became the eighth player to win at least two three-point crowns and the first since Jason Kapono in 2007 and 2008 to do so in consecutive years.

Lillard defeated Atlanta’s Trae Young and Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns, both of whom had 24 points in the final round.

“I think it was a lower score to win last year. Nobody really shot the ball great,” Lillard said. “With this one I felt like everyone was shooting at a pretty high clip in the first round, in the tiebreaker round and the final round. Everyone shot well, so this one was, I’d say, a little more fun.

Skills challenge

Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, a two-time All-Star, made the game-tying half-court shot with 20.5 seconds left in a timed game on Saturday night to give the Team Pacers the NBA’s Skills Challenge crown over Team All-Stars.

Haliburton, Myles Turner and Bennedict Mathurin teamed up to win the first two competitions of the evening – the team relay and the passing competition – at Lucas Oil Stadium, just a short walk from their home arena.

It took Team All-Stars 58.8 seconds to make its first half-court shot. Haliburton needed just 38.3 seconds to take the win.