One night after a spectacular showing in the NBA’s Rising Stars tournament, Houston Rockets rookie Jalen Green tried to put on another show in Saturday’s slam dunk contest at 2022 All-Star Weekend.
Unfortunately, Green finished third among four entrants after taking far too long to make his initial dunk, and that resulted in him being eliminated after the first round. Green got 83 points from judges out of a maximum of 100, which wasn’t enough to beat out New York’s Obi Toppin (the eventual winner) and Golden State’s Juan Toscano-Anderson.
Here’s a look at Green’s dunks, along with real-time reaction on social media. The general consensus was that the dunks were impressive, but Green simply had too many missed opportunities before finally putting in his first dunk, which was rated 38 out of 50. The amount of time it took seemed to be viewed as a negative by the Cleveland crowd, as well as the panel of judges (including former Rockets star Clyde Drexler).
With All-Star activities in the books, Green and the Rockets will resume their 2021-22 regular season next Friday in Orlando.
