PHOENIX (AP) -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, Toronto’s Jason Kapono was gunning for a three-peat in the 3-point Shootout.
Kapono was trying to become the third player to capture three straight titles in the popular All-Star Saturday event.
Kapono last year tied former Bull Craig Hodges for most points in a single round with 25 in the final round. He was looking to join Hodges, who won the contest from 1990-92, and Hall of Famer Larry Bird, who won it from 1986-88, as the only three-time winners of the event.
Trying to unseat Kapono were Mike Bibby of Atlanta, Daequan Cook of Miami, Danny Granger of Indiana, Rashard Lewis of Orlando and Roger Mason of San Antonio.
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, Orlando’s Dwight Howard was looking to repeat as the Slam Dunk champion.
New York’s Nate Robinson, who won the event in Houston in 2006, was challenging Howard, along with J.R. Smith of Denver and Rudy Fernandez of Portland.
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