5-9 Robinson wins dunk over 6-11 Howard

PHOENIX – Diminutive New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson beat defending champion Dwight Howard of Orlando in an electrifying NBA slam dunk contest on Saturday, winning 52 percent of fans’ votes.

Clad in an all-green Knicks uniform with green shoes, Robinson used Howard as a prop in the final round, springboarding over the 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) center to jam.

“Dwight was a great sport letting me dunk over him,” said Robinson, who also won in 2006.

Howard, who scored a perfect 50 on both of his first-round dunks, performed the most theatrical dunk of the night in the first round.

He disappeared into a phone booth just off the court, emerging with a Superman cape.

Howard waved his arms to the crowd as an 11-foot (3.4-meter) basket was wheeled onto the floor. Howard took a bounce pass from teammate Jameer Nelson and tomahawked a dunk as US Airways Center exploded.

Portland’s Rudy Fernandez and Denver’s J.R. Smith were eliminated in the first round.

Miami’s Daequan Cook won the NBA 3-Point Shootout from Orlando’s Rashard Lewis and ended Jason Kapono’s two-year run as champion.

When the long-distance contest went to overtime, Cook posted the best round of the competition with 19 points.

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.

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 Atlanta, 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.

Chicago’s Derrick Rose capped his Skills Challenge victory 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.

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 host Phoenix. The crowd was delighted when he finished fourth in 50.8 seconds after missing several jumpers.

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, was won by Team Detroit – former Piston Bill Laimbeer, present Pistons guard Arron Afflalo and Detroit Shock star Katie Smith.

Team Detroit was runner-up last year and won the contest in 2007 in which players shoot from six locations of increasing difficulty. (AP)