Why did he risk that $5,000 trying to dunk when it was clearly enough money to settle on for the moment? That was way too much money to risk on something that you weren't sure you could do, even if you think DEEP down inside that you can do it. Even when I was younger and could dunk, I wouldn't bet $5,000 on it. Sidney even tried to reason with him beforehand. Just dumb. That's the kind of dumb that's dangerous to others and gets people killed.
shareThat was the whole point of that scene, he had a bad gambling problem and when Sydney said he couldn't dunk he just had to prove him wrong. It was stupid and just typical Billy, Gloria knew it and ultimately left him for it. She knew he could never change, that was his weakness.
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Pretty much what Striker said. His gambling is what got him in the situation in the first place. And it was his gambling that kept them in the situation for as long as it did.
shareI think he could dunk, he just couldnt do it reliably, or consistently enough to do it against competition, and while he was tired. I say this because he grabbed the rim on all 3 attempts. It seemed like he had more trouble palming the ball, then getting enough height.
To be clear, I’m talking about the character, not the actor, I know that wasn’t a 10 foot rim.
It was dumb, but it was obviously an insecurity that he had. He had been hearing it all day, and his ego got the better of him.
What's REALLY interesting to me is that we learn, from the big game at the end, that Billy COULD dunk all along, and what's more Sidney KNEW Billy could dunk
So Sidney was playing a mind game with Billy over the $5K. By challenging Billy just enough with just the right level of condescension, he basically forced Billy to lose the bet
It's a neat reversal, because we'd seen Billy run game on Sidney already and we just saw Billy "in the zone," driving his opponents to distraction
But turns out the master of mind games is still vulnerable to them