GotGibson?
Bench Warmer
Chicago's 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.
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.
Durant scored a Rookie Challenge-record 46 points to lead the NBA's sophomores to a 122-116 victory over the rookies on Friday night.
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.
Later in the evening, Miami's Daequan Cook posted the best round of the 3-point 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.
Lewis sputtered in the third session, missing his first 11 shots to finish with seven points.
Cook had forced overtime by hitting his final four shots in the second round of the six-man competition.
"It was very important for me to be focused," Cook said. "I felt this was my opportunity to show people that I should be considered as one of the elite 3-point shooters in the game, so tonight I came out and did that."
Afterward, Cook waved to teammate Dwyane Wade, who had been cheering him from a courtside seat. Cook said Wade had encouraged him as the contest approached.
"This was one of the times this weekend that I wanted to take over," Cook said. "We've just been talking about it, and luckily I did it tonight."
Kapono came up one point short in the second round. The Toronto Raptors sharpshooter was trying to become the third player to capture three straight titles in the event, following former Chicago Bulls guard Craig Hodges, who won from 1990-92, and Boston Hall of Famer Larry Bird, who won from 1986-88.
Mike Bibby of the Atlanta Hawks, Danny Granger of Indiana and Roger Mason of San Antonio were eliminated in the first round. Mason is something of a local villain after hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lead the Spurs to a 91-90 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Christmas Day.
In the evening's final and most anticipated event, New York's Nate Robinson, who won the event in Houston in 2006, beat Dwight Howard, along with J.R. Smith of Denver and Rudy Fernandez of Portland, for his second slam dunk title.
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.
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.
Durant scored a Rookie Challenge-record 46 points to lead the NBA's sophomores to a 122-116 victory over the rookies on Friday night.
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.
Later in the evening, Miami's Daequan Cook posted the best round of the 3-point 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.
Lewis sputtered in the third session, missing his first 11 shots to finish with seven points.
Cook had forced overtime by hitting his final four shots in the second round of the six-man competition.
"It was very important for me to be focused," Cook said. "I felt this was my opportunity to show people that I should be considered as one of the elite 3-point shooters in the game, so tonight I came out and did that."
Afterward, Cook waved to teammate Dwyane Wade, who had been cheering him from a courtside seat. Cook said Wade had encouraged him as the contest approached.
"This was one of the times this weekend that I wanted to take over," Cook said. "We've just been talking about it, and luckily I did it tonight."
Kapono came up one point short in the second round. The Toronto Raptors sharpshooter was trying to become the third player to capture three straight titles in the event, following former Chicago Bulls guard Craig Hodges, who won from 1990-92, and Boston Hall of Famer Larry Bird, who won from 1986-88.
Mike Bibby of the Atlanta Hawks, Danny Granger of Indiana and Roger Mason of San Antonio were eliminated in the first round. Mason is something of a local villain after hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lead the Spurs to a 91-90 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Christmas Day.
In the evening's final and most anticipated event, New York's Nate Robinson, who won the event in Houston in 2006, beat Dwight Howard, along with J.R. Smith of Denver and Rudy Fernandez of Portland, for his second slam dunk title.
