Story Created:
Feb 15, 2010 at 12:28 PM PST
Story Updated:
Feb 15, 2010 at 12:28 PM PST
DeMar DeRozan had never lost a slam dunk contest in his life, but even that fact wasn’t enough to overcome the reigning NBA champion Sunday in Dallas.
The Toronto Raptors rookie from Compton High School and USC saw his record for perfection in this form of competition end when New York Knicks’ guard Nate Robinson became the first three-time winner of the league’s slam dunk contest during the league’s all-star festivities.
Robinson, who barely won by getting 51 percent of the fan vote, said this is it for him as as slam dunk contests go.
“No, no, no, no, no. I don’t think I can bear that anymore,” he said. “I’m just happy with this third one. This is the last one.”
DeRozan advanced to the final round after getting a perfect score of 50 on his second dunk of the first round.
After bringing several Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders on the court with him, Robinson’s final dunk came when he threw the ball off the backboard, grabbed it and turned midair for a two-handed backward slam.
“The best thing I brought with me, the Dallas cheerleaders of course,” Robinson said. “I asked if they could help me out with the dunk. They did their job and I did mine.”
While not using the cheerleaders as props—“They’re way too beautiful for that,” he said—Robinson celebrated his final dunk by grabbing a pair of silver and blue pompoms from one of them and waving them in the air.
Fan voting determined the final round after DeRozan advanced by getting five 10s from a judging panel that included former dunk champions Spud Webb and Dominique Wilkins. The 5-foot-7 Webb, a Dallas native, won the event the only other time it was held in his hometown in 1986.
DeRozan’s perfect score came after he caught a pass off the side of the backboard and slammed it with his right hand on the other side of the hoop.
DeRozan got a spot in the competition by winning the first-ever All-Star Slam Dunk-In, beating Clippers guard Eric Gordon at halftime of the rookie challenge Friday night.
Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace and Shannon Brown of the Lakers were eliminated after the first round.
While Robinson reigned again, Boston’s Paul Pierce, the former Inglewood High standout, arrived for All-Star weekend wanting to make up for an embarrassing performance.
Consider it done.
Pierce won the 3-Point Shootout, proving his lackluster performance the last time he was in the competition was an aberration.
“I worked on it, I really took pride in it. In ’02 I stunk it up. I wanted to come in here and put on a show,” Pierce said. “I had to work on getting the technique down and knowing what side to pull the ball from, stuff like that. I knew if I got hot I could win it.”
Pierce had 20 points in the final round, making all five of the 2-point money balls, to beat Golden State’s Stephen Curry (17) and Denver’s Chauncey Billups (14).
When Pierce last competed in the Shootout in 2002, he scored only eight points—what he called leading into this week’s competition “almost a record low.”
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