{"id":35604,"date":"2025-02-21T07:12:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T07:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=35604"},"modified":"2025-02-21T07:18:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T07:18:20","slug":"matas-buzeliss-2025-nba-att-dunk-contest-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=35604","title":{"rendered":"Matas Buzelis&#8217;s 2025 NBA AT&#038;T Dunk Contest Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/73f5144\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5271x3514+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fbb%2Fa1%2F1af48474456aa8a614f62fd28fe8%2F2179487395.jpg\" alt=\"T\u00e2n binh Matas Buzelis c\u1ee7a Bulls th\u1ea5y r\u1eb1ng th\u1eddi gian ch\u01a1i r\u1ea5t kh\u00f3 ki\u1ebfm - Chicago Sun-Times\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The 2025 NBA All-Star weekend showcased some of the highest flyers and lethal three-point shooters tonight during the AT&amp;T Dunk Contest and the Starry 3-Point Contest. The Bulls were represented for the second time this weekend by rookie forward Matas Buzelis, one of four participants vying for the 2025 NBA AT&amp;T Dunk Contest champion title. He came in tonight hoping to join Michael Jordan as the only two players to win this award in franchise history. Bulls fans grew excited in the last few weeks because Buzelis mentioned that he sought the advice of two-time dunk contest winner and former teammate Zach LaVine. LaVine has one of the most impressive resumes and assortment of dunks in the contest\u2019s history, paired with Buzelis\u2019s elite athleticism. How did Buzelis\u2019s night finish, and could he shock the entire Association with his performance?<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-turning-heads-with-his-dunk-package\"><strong>Turning Heads With His Dunk Package<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>While the current state of the All-Star weekend disappoints many, the dunk contest typically contends for the most highly anticipated and enjoyed event. Even though the league\u2019s best players and biggest icons don\u2019t consistently participate, there are always a few surprises in the mundane bunch representing the field. One of this year\u2019s was Bulls rookie Matas Buzelis. Chicago fans aren\u2019t stunned by the showing. Having seen the 20-year-old throw ferocious in-game dunks throughout his first campaign, videos of his warm-up attempts before the contest, and gaining the counsel of LaVine, they knew the kid could fly.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Buzelis goes REVERSE off the side of the backboard. \ud83d\udca5#ATTSlamDunk on TNT pic.twitter.com\/bOLXElxMRw<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Buzelis goes REVERSE off the side of the backboard. \ud83d\udca5<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ATTSlamDunk?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ATTSlamDunk<\/a> on TNT <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bOLXElxMRw\">pic.twitter.com\/bOLXElxMRw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1890964507318419877?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div>\n<h2 id=\"h-creativity-was-there\"><strong>\u00a0Creativity Was There<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Unfortunately, Buzelis only completed a successful dunk on one of his first-round slams. The first of his two, an attempt that started behind the backboard and finished with a between-the-legs windmill off the bounce failed to register a made dunk attempt. His default score was 40.0 out of a possible 50.0, which no other dunker did throughout the competition. Barring a perfect score on his second dunk, which didn\u2019t come to fruition, he had already eliminated himself from contention. He\u2019d take home fourth place, below each of the other three competitors.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Credit to Buzelis for something pretty unique pic.twitter.com\/zsNbJEIJQ3<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Credit to Buzelis for something pretty unique <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zsNbJEIJQ3\">pic.twitter.com\/zsNbJEIJQ3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bballbreakdown\/status\/1890958985383051515?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In another disastrous season to be a Chicago Bulls fan and the sixth losing one in the last seven, Buzelis\u2019s previous two weeks have shown tremendous growth and improvement. For the rest of the year, look for him to separate himself as the organization\u2019s next cornerstone asset, soon to be paired with a top-ten draft pick this summer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After two of the flashiest attempted dunk contest dunks in recent history, how did Matas stack up with the other three high-flyers?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":35619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matas Buzelis&#039;s 2025 NBA AT&amp;T Dunk Contest Performance - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=35604\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matas Buzelis&#039;s 2025 NBA AT&amp;T Dunk Contest Performance - 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