The Brooklyn Nets' Spencer Dinwiddie defeated Chicago Bulls rookie Lauri Markannen in the finals of the 2018 Taco Bell Skills Challenge to bag the crown. Dinwiddie came out on top of this year's cast which also includes Lou Williams, Al Horford, Andre Drummond, Jamal Murray, Buddy Hield, and Joel Embiid.

Interestingly, Dinwiddie almost did not make it past the first round, edging out the Sacramento Kings representative in Hield at the last second.
.@SDinwiddie_25 with the last second win over @buddyhield in the 1st round of the #TacoBellSkills! 😬 pic.twitter.com/lkyCKAsTol
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 18, 2018
The Nets' point guard then eliminated the Denver Nuggets' participant in Murray to arrange a finals matchup with Markkanen.
Today we spell redemption S-P-E-N-C-E-R
Spencer Dinwiddie is your 2018 Taco Bell Skills Challenge champ! pic.twitter.com/5YQqC6o1sN
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) February 18, 2018
The win gave the guards their first victory after two years of witnessing Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks and the Minnesota Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns run rings around the course and lift the flag for the big men.




Dinwiddie is the second Nets player to win the Skills Challenge, but it took 15 years. In the 2003 All-Star weekend, point guard Jason Kidd won the inaugural contest, back when the Nets were still based in New Jersey.
Without a doubt, this has been the best season of Dinwiddie's career so far. He wasn't supposed to be this good right away, though, but because of D'Angelo Russell's injury that took him out for an extended period, Dinwiddie was granted the opportunity to showcase his skillset.

The University of Colorado product has started in 48 of the 58 games he has played in this season. He holds averages of 13.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game for the struggling Nets, who have seemingly bottomed after a somewhat promising start sans Russell.
Here's the clip of Dinwiddie's finals clash with Markkanen.
Former Bull Spencer Dinwiddie defeats Lauri Markkanen in the Skills Challenge final. Great showing Lauri though pic.twitter.com/SpKlnpdJEy
— Mark K (@mkhoops) February 18, 2018