Diallo jumps over Shaq to win NBA slam-dunk challenge as Harris stuns Steph Curry

Oklahoma City’s Hamidou Diallo put on a show amid the NBA’s All-Star weekend to win the class’ yearly slam dunk challenge.

Diallo pulled off a dunk that will be discussed for quite a long time in the first round dunking over Shaquille O’Neal, holding tight the edge by his elbow, at that point tearing open his pullover to uncover a “Superman” shirt underneath. What’s more, his first dunk of the final round had the highest point of his head at nearly edge level, placing him in charge after his opponent, New York’s Dennis Smith Jr, failed to make a dunk in his first try of the final.

Smith then leapfrogged Miami’s Dwyane Wade and took a throw from Stephen Curry to give himself a shot with his last dunk, getting an ideal score from the judges and a series of boos from the crowd, a large number of whom weren’t excessively awed. That left Diallo as the night’s final participant. Diallo got rapper Quavo out of the group, put the ball in his grasp, at that point got it as he went airborne for the hammer that fixed the title.

However, the most momentous story of the night came when Brooklyn’s unheralded Joe Harris held off one of the best shooters ever, Stephen Curry, to win the three-point challenge. Harris made 12 straight shots in the final round and went an amazing 15 for 18 on moneyballs – the shots worth the most – to win the three-point title. He completed with 26 of a conceivable 34 in the final round, beating Curry by two. Sacramento’s Buddy Hield was third with 19 final-round points.

“Obviously, it’s incredible,” Harris said. “Steph is the greatest shooter of all time. But, again, shooting off of the rack for a minute is not indicative of being a better shooter than Steph Curry. I don’t want anybody to get it twisted at all.”

What’s more, the sprinter up left a champ, as well. Stephen Curry and his sibling Seth Curry of the Portland Trail Blazers had a wagered where the champer of the three-point challenge, in which they were both entrants, would need to pay for tickets for the family over whatever is left of their careers.

Seth Curry didn’t get out of the first round. He said that even though his brother didn’t win, he’d pay up. “It stands. He got that 27 in Round One and that’s impressive,” Seth Curry said. “He deserved to win the bet and I have to do what I got to do.”

The Curry family had a decent end of the week in Charlotte. Father Dell Curry is a previous Charlotte star, Steph is a three-time NBA champion, Seth is in the association and mother Sonya beat them all by making an underhand half-court shot on Friday. “I would have loved the storybook ending Steph comes home and wins in his native Charlotte,” Stephen Curry said. “That’s how I had it in my head anyway.”

The night began with the abilities challenge, and the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum edged Atlanta new kid on the block Trae Young in the last by making a shot from simply past the midcourt stripe. Young was ahead of Tatum in the competition where players have to execute some passes, a layup and then a three-pointer.Fearing that Young would make his three before Tatum could even get one off, he let it fly from about 50 feet. “I didn’t want to give Trae a chance,” Tatum said. “I honestly didn’t know I was going to hit the shot, but I had to give myself a chance and throw it up there. It worked out for the best.”