Bam Adebayo won the Skills Challenge to open up the NBA All-Star Saturday Night 2020 festivities. The Miami Heat forward knocked off Indiana Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis to win the title, but he had to get through one former Skills Challenge champion on his way to the final round. Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie, who won the event in 2018.
Apparently, Adebayo told Dinwiddie prior to the competition “I’m going to be the champion,” and claimed after winning the event that the Nets point guard took him lightly.
Now Dinwiddie didn’t necessarily think the Miami forward was an easy matchup, but it doesn’t sound like he thought Adebayo would finish the round as efficiently as he did, based on what the Nets guard told Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News:
God has a lovely sense of humor because he allowed Bam to hit his first shot, which is craziness. I didn’t underestimate anybody. If you’re gonna lose, lose to the winner.
Dinwiddie added:
He hit the first one. Like, the first one? Really? Nobody was expecting that [expletive].
Dinwiddie will get a chance for some payback when the Nets visit the Heat on the last day of February.