Donovan Mitchell throws the ball off the backboard. He catches it on its way down, from the bottom, and brings it back for a ferocious dunk. The power feels like he's about to rip off the rim. This was the Utah Jazz rookie's best dunk of the night.

This dunk was everything that you wanted to see Mitchell bring to the dunk contest. His insane athleticism. The ferocity he brings on every rim-rattling slam. The showmanship needed to bring the crowd on its feet. However, this was also not the best dunk of the night. It wasn't even the second best.  

Mitchell won the dunk contest and it was well-deserved. He consistently brought out good dunks and most of his attempts were finished relatively quickly. He didn't allow himself to get caught up in attempting the same move over and over again. 

Yet while all of Mitchell's dunks were great, Mavericks guard Dennis Smith Jr. and Cavs forward Larry Nance Jr. each had at least one dunk that topped anything he threw down. This isn't to take away from Mitchell's performance. He earned his trophy.

Mitchell just didn't have a jam quite like the one Smith brought out for his second dunk of the contest. In terms of difficulty, nobody was able to top a reverse between the legs and finish with the off hand. 

This is one of those dunks that is going to be played on highlight reels for years. The reason people got excited when Smith was announced for the contest was because he's been throwing down dunks like this since high school. Look at how natural his movements are. It's the exact definition of a 50, and the judges didn't even mark him down for missing on the first attempt.

Unfortunately for Smith, the reason he didn't advance to the next round was because of the 39 on his first dunk. He had a sick double-pump dunk, but it wasn't enough in the eyes of the judges to make up for the miss on his earlier attempt. Double-pump dunks are also criminally underrated. 

Mitchell eventually moved on and faced Nance in the final round. Mitchell's third dunk was outstanding, but it was Nance's final dunk that really stood out from the rest. What he pulled out was similar to something Dwight Howard did all the way back in 2008, but not quite the same.

This dunk is incredible. The amount of timing, coordination and height needed for Nance to pull this off is a feat only someone with his athleticism can pull off. It's what he did all night -- finding dunks that only someone of his skill set is capable of and putting them out there for the world to see. That's what big men like him need to do in the contest to win. 

Perhaps he took inspiration from Howard's dunk in 2008:

Nance would barely lose to Mitchell. It was a close and entertaining contest, which is all the fans could ask for. Personally, I wish Smith advanced because his dunk was just that great and he probably had even more in the bag. In the end, Nance had a shot but the judges opted to give it to Mitchell. 

That's what bringing power and entertainment on every dunk will do. This contest isn't about just the dunks. You have to put on a show and Mitchell put on one heck of a performance from start to finish.