Slam Dunk contest 2016: Zach LaVine beats Aaron Gordon to retain title after historic duel in Toronto

The pair produced six perfect dunks in a row

Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves dunks as NBA players look on in the Verizon Slam Dunk Contest during NBA All-Star Weekend (GETTY IMAGES)

Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon produced a spectacular aerial show in what is already being hailed as the greatest slam dunk contests of all time.

The pair produced tit-for-tat brilliance in front of a raucous Canadian crowd at the Air Canada Centre. At one point Lavine, of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Orlando Magic's Gordon were given six successive perfect 50 out of 50 scores by the judges - unprecedented in the competition.

The dunk contest came after Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson pulled off a surprise win to beat team-mate and reigning league MVP Stephen Curry to win the three-point contest.

Will Barton and Andre Drummond had also competed in the dunk contest but after a good start the action fizzled slightly.

However, after that pair had been eliminated, the event came alive. In the championship round LaVine and Gordon produced a succession of brilliant dunks that had not been seen before.

As the duo kept their battle alive it was clear that they had run out of pre-planned ideas, and were instead producing brilliance in the heat of the moment, something that only added to the drama.

"We were looking in our bag of tricks. Ain't nothing left," LaVine said. "I just found a little piece of dust."

Defending champion LaVine eventually retained his crown, the winning dunk going through his legs after he lifted off from the free throw line, but Gordon produced the night's two best dunks and arguably deserved to win. His final dunk, which scored a 47, would have won the contest in any number of previous years.

"I just think that was the best contest," LaVine added. "There was some stuff that's never been done before. I don't want to get into the greats - Mike [Michael Jordan], they're in a different breath. If you really look at it as a whole, we were doing dunks that professional dunkers take four or five tries to do and we were doing it on the first try. It was ridiculous, man."

Gordon added: "If I knew it was going to be like that, I would have prepared better and we would have been here dunking all night, going back 50 after 50 after 50 after 50. We would have been here all night. I didn't know it was going to be like that."