Kobe Paras soars high, but falls short against pros in 3×3 dunk contest
Kobe Paras showed off his hops anew but failed to land a spot in the final round of the dunk contest in the 2017 Fiba 3×3 World Cup Tuesday (Manila time) in Nantes, France.
Paras, the youngest participant at 19-years-old, attempted a couple of dunks that got the crowd up on its feet.
First was a windmill from a pass by teammate Kiefer Ravena off the side of the backboard.
Then, Paras changed into a throwback Vince Carter Toronto Raptors jersey and jumped over Ravena from the restricted area before pulling off an elbow dunk made famous by the NBA All-Star.
Paras fell short after garnering a score of 50 points for his two dunks.
Americans Chris Staples, Jordan Southerland, Polish Rafal ‘Lipek’ Lipinski and Ukrainian Vadim ‘Miller’ Poddubchenko booked a spot in the finals which will be held on Thursday.
Staples, whose 360 between-the-legs slam over two people was the only dunk to get a perfect 30 from the judges, led all dunkers with a total of 57 points.
Lipinski collected 56 points while Poddubchenko and Miller each got 54 points.
Paras is no stranger to international dunk contests having won in both the 2013 and 2015 Fiba 3×3 U-18 World Championships
Photo by from FIBA 3×3 Website.
The young forward also came close to earning a ticket to the last round despite being the only non-professional dunker in the field.
Paras and the rest of the Philippine team currently holds a 1-1 record in the 3-on-3 tournament after winning over Romania and losing to host France on Monday.
