Five-Star Review: Zach LaVine brought some life to the Dunk Contest

Zach LaVine is in the building, folks.

By Zach Harper

Feb 14, 2015 at 6:32 pm ET • 2 min read

I don't know if the Dunk Contest is back, but I know that I want Minnesota Timberwolves' rookie Zach LaVine back in the Dunk Contest. He put on a show and this Five-Star Review should mostly be about him. And it is. Let's review the capper on a fun All-Star Saturday night:

ZACH LAVINE IN A DUNK CONTEST:He gets 50 stars for the Five-Star Review because he truly put on a show. You need a special dunker in order to bring life to a dunk contest we've seen time and time again. The thing is ... Zach LaVine had more in his dunking arsenal and he loves doing dunk contests. He'll likely be back again as long as he want to participate. I'm not sure the NBA can get away with keeping him out.

Here are the dunks. Think about how easy he made them, now think about a normal human trying them on a 7-foot rim.

The first dunk was a Space Jam tribute because as he explained tonight, Space Jam was what made him want to play basketball. He rocked a Tune Squad Michael Jordan jersey, brought out the Quad City DJ's to perform, and went with a reverse between-the-legs off the bounce to bring the house to their feet.

The second dunk by LaVine was equally as absurd. He went off the bounce again, basically put the ball around his back by going under his hindquarters, and ripped a tomahawk dunk through the net once he brought it all the way around. This is just a stupid dunk that not many people would even try.

This screenshot of LaVine's dunk is awesome.

I mean pic.twitter.com/wYkb7QYhnk
— Dane Carbaugh (@danecarbaugh) February 15, 2015

When you break Julius Erving's emotions meter, then you've done something special in the Dunk Contest.

And you have to have your peers losing their minds to show you've made your mark on the dunk contest and he certainly did that.

The first dunk in the final round basically ended it, assuming he didn't end it with the first dunk attempt. He took the ball from Andrew Wiggins' hand and did a between-the-legs dunk yet again. He seems to rather go reverse with between-the-legs than the "normal" way.

For the final dunk, LaVine went off the extension on the backboard from a Shabazz Muhammad pass and performed his third between-the-legs dunk of the night.

And he wants to come back next year. Let's go.

VICTOR OLADIPO SINGING:When Victor Oladipo entered the Dunk Contest, he was singing New York, New York. It didn't go well.

VICTOR OLADIPO'S 540:The only reason Oladipo isn't getting five stars here is because Zach LaVine broke the Five-Star Review. But this "540 dunk" is ridiculous and really brought some energy to the contest before LaVine took over.