Rose wins Skills Challenge
PHOENIX - Bulls rookie Derrick Rose capped his Skills Challenge victory Saturday night with a double-pump reverse dunk.
Rose defeated New Jersey's Devin Harris in the final round, navigating the obstacle course consisting of dribbling, passing and shooting stations in 35.3 seconds, 4.4 seconds faster than Harris.
"I was just taking my time, going against a great group of guys," Rose said.
Cleveland's Mo Williams and San Antonio's Tony Parker were eliminated after the first round. Williams took third with a time of 37.5 seconds after replacing Orlando guard Jameer Nelson, who has a torn right labrum.
Parker was booed - no surprise given the Spurs' bitter rivalry with the host Phoenix Suns. The crowd was delighted when he finished fourth in 50.8 seconds after missing several jumpers.
In an electrifying slam-dunk contest, Nate Robinson, the diminutive New York Knicks guard, beat defending champion Dwight Howard of Orlando, winning 52 percent of fans' votes.
Clad in an all-green Knicks uniform with green shoes, the 5-foot-9 Robinson springboarded over the 6-foot-11 Howard to jam.
"Dwight was a great sport letting me dunk over him," said Robinson, who also won in 2006.
Robinson pitched the idea to Orlando's big man on Friday.
"I asked him yesterday in the elevator," Robinson said. "He was like, 'Hey, I'll do it.' I thought he was joking."
Howard said he was happy to help him out.
"It is all about having fun," Howard said. "Hey, he won fair and square. The fans loved it. We tried to put on a good show. That's what it is all about at all-star weekend. It doesn't matter who wins or loses."
Howard seemed destined for another victory after scoring a perfect 50 on both of his first-round dunks.
The all-star center performed the most theatrical dunk of the night in the opening round. He disappeared into a phone booth just off the court, emerging with a Superman cape, and waved his arms to the crowd as an 11-foot basket was wheeled onto the floor. He then took a bounce pass from teammate Jameer Nelson and tomahawked a dunk as U.S. Airways Center exploded.
Earlier, Miami's Daequan Cook connected over and over again when the 3-Point Shootout went to an extra session. When the long-distance contest went to overtime, Cook found his stroke. The Heat guard posted the best total of the competition with 19 points in the extra round, cruising past Orlando's Rashard Lewis to win the title and end Jason Kapono's two-year run as king of one of All-Star Saturday's marquee events.
Kevin Durant also continued his strong all-star weekend with a victory in an outdoor H-O-R-S-E competition at the Block Party across the street from U.S. Airways Center. The Oklahoma City star rallied to beat Memphis' O.J. Mayo and Atlanta's Joe Johnson.
The NBA's popular All-Star Saturday night event opened with the Shooting Stars competition, which features a player from an NBA team, a retired player from that team and a player from that city's WNBA club. Team Detroit - former Piston Bill Laimbeer, present Pistons guard Arron Afflalo and Detroit Shock star Katie Smith - won the event, in which players shoot from six locations of increasing difficulty. Team Detroit was runner-up last year and won the contest in 2007.