NBA All-Star Game: Serge Ibaka kids around during dunk contest
Baily Munoz came to perform in the halftime show, and ended up starring center stage during the Slam Dunk contest Saturday.
Munoz, a 7-year-old from Las Vegas, is part of the Future Funk dance group that will participate in the halftime show during the NBA All-Star game Sunday. But on Saturday, he was picked to team with Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka on a dunk.
Munoz came onto the floor crying, pointing to a stuffed animal -- Rumble, Oklahoma City’s mascot -- dangling from the rim. It took two tries from Ibaka to dunk a basketball and pull the toy down with his teeth.
“They just asked me yesterday to do it,” Munoz said. “I couldn’t believe it. The NBA All-Star game is like Disneyland to me.”
Said Ibaka: “It was my second dunk. I was trying to do something with a little imagination.”
Playing the “kid card” evidently didn’t help. Ibaka didn’t make it to the finals, where the Clippers' Blake Griffin defeated the Wizards' JaVale McGee for the title.
--Chris Foster
Photo: Serge Ibaka grabs a toy animal with his teeth as he puts down a reverse dunk on Saturday night. Credit: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
