The two high-flyers advanced out of the first round of the Dunk Contest after besting Dwight Howard and Pat Connaughton, and both put up two perfect scores to start the final. While the judges were undoubtedly liberal with their distribution of 50s all night, both Gordon and Jones were both worthy of the high praise.
The perfect scores meant the competition would come down to the fabled "Dunk Off" a sudden death of dunking delirium. The two once again traded 50s in the first attempted dunk off, keeping the pressure on each other throughout the competition.
For his final dunk of the evening, Jones took off from just past the free-throw line and threw down a windmill.
Jones was awarded a 48 out of 50 on that attempt, leaving Gordon with one final chance to take the win.
In the decisive dunk, Gordon brought out Celtics center Tacko Fall, the tallest player in the NBA.
Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is six inches shorter than Fall, was dumbfounded.
The commentators argued that the contest be left as a tie, but the judges only awarded Gordon a 47, leaving Jones the winner.
On Twitter, fans were stunned that Gordon had been robbed for the second time in his career, having already lost what is considered by many to be the best dunk contest in recent history to Zach LaVine in 2016.
After the contest, Gordon implied that he would not be competing again, having already felt robbed of two Dunk Contest titles.
"I did four straight 50s five straight 50s. That's over. It's a wrap. Let's go home," Gordon said. "Four 50s in a row in an NBA dunk contest, it's over. But I don't know. Who's running the show?"
"It's a wrap, bro," Gordon said. "I feel like I should have two trophies."
Making matters more intriguing, rapper, actor and activist Common, who was one of five judges in the competition, said that Gordon's final score was supposed to end the contest in a tie.
"We thought it was going to be tied. We were like, 'This is a tie!'" Common, told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne. "But somebody didn't do it right. I don't know who it is."
Fans immediately pointed to Dwyane Wade as the judge that went rogue. Wade, who played with Jones in Miami, awarded Jones a 10 on his final dunk attempt, and gave Gordon a 9 on final, leaving him one point short of a tie.
But Wade denied any wrongdoing. "It took nine rounds. I mean, it wasn't biased," Wade said. "I wasn't the only one who gave him a nine, let's talk about that. There was three people that gave a nine. But people are going to talk."
There's no objective way to score the Dunk Contest, and anything can happen with a result that is left in the hands of celebrity judges but it certainly feels like some chicanery threw this year's title to Jones.
