Nate ’The Great’ Regains Slam Dunk Crown

Nate Robinson flew through the desert air with the greatest of ease and used a green "kryptonite" ball, uniform and shoes to dethrone Orlando's Man of Steel Dwight Howard.

The 5-foot-9 Robinson, who stands 14 inches shorter than Howard, jumped over the defending champ dressed in a Superman cape in a head-to-head finals matchup and brought the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest title back to the Big Apple for the second time since his rookie season.

Fans at the U.S. Airways Arena in Phoenix and watching from around the world gave Robinson 52 percent of their votes for his final dunk after five judges determined the scores of his first three dunks. Howard, returning to the Superman theme from a year ago, ended the night with a soaring slam from a step within the free throw line.

"Dwight was a great sport for letting me dunk over him," Robinson said. "That was a key point of the dunk contest."

Robinson advanced to the finals after lobbing a pass to himself for a windmill jam (46 points) and jumping off teammate Wilson Chandler's back for a right-handed dunk (41 points) to bring his point total to 87 in the first round. He received a perfect 50 on the first of two dunks in the finals when he tossed the ball to himself from the corner and brought the ball to his knees on a reverse slam.

"The preparation was just to come in and make my dunks," Robinson said. "In the previous years, I missed a couple of dunks so I feel like I let myself down. So I wanted to come in and do some dunks I knew I would make."

The judges gave Howard perfect scores on his two dunks in the first round, including a two-handed dunk on an 12-foot basket off of a pass off the backboard. In his first dunk of the finals, he tossed the ball off the side of the backboard and threw down a fierce right-handed slam.

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

Next year's competition could get even more interesting after Cleveland superstar LeBron James told TNT's Cheryl Miller that he is planning to make his dunk contest debut in 2010. However, Robinson said he's ready to defend his second title in three tries.

"I already did three, but, I mean, if they really want me to come back, I guess I have to dig in the archives and try to figure out some more dunks I could do," he said. "I got the championship back to New York City and I have to thank my teammates for being there for me in practice, Wilson Chandler for helping out with the dunks."

Robinson won as a rookie in 2006 when he threw down a historic slam over 1986 champion Spud Webb and defeated Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala in the event's first-ever dunkoff. He fell to Boston's Gerald Green in the finals the following year.

Earlier Saturday night, Detroit was triumphant in the Haier Shooting Stars competition, Chicago's Derrick Rose cruised to first place in the PlayStation Skills Challenge and Miami's Daequan Cook captured the Foot Three-Point Shootout crown.

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