Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe tried to channel his inner Blake Griffin at the NBA slam dunk contest Saturday night, but he came up short.
Bledsoe scored a perfect 50 on his second dunk, but he had problems with his first attempt and scored a 39. Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz advanced out of the first round to represent the Western Conference against Terrence Ross of the Toronto Raptors in the competition at Toyota Center in Houston.
On his first attempt, Bledsoe tried and failed four times to spin in the air and pass the ball between his legs before dunking. He finally changed to a less spectacular move, touching the backboard on his way up and then slamming a reverse dunk that was still impressive.
On his second dunk try, Bledsoe bounced the ball high off the floor, spun and slammed in a reverse windmill. All five judges gave him a 50, but his point total for two dunks was not enough to surpass Evans and advance.
In the final, Ross defeated Evans, the event’s defending champion, by leaping over a ball boy and putting the ball between his legs for a spectacular dunk.
