2017 Slam Dunk Contest

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Despite being cast as an underdog in this year's NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Glenn Robinson III rose to the occasion, defeating Derrick Jones Jr. of the Phoenix Suns in the final head-to-head round.

Robinson III becomes the first Pacers player since Fred Jones in 2004 to bring the Slam Dunk trophy back to Indiana.

Take a look at how fans, teammates, and more reacted to GR3's high-flying performance on All-Star Saturday Night.

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What They're Saying: GR3 Becomes NBA Slam Dunk Champion

At the 2017 Verizon Slam Dunk Contest on All-Star Saturday Night in New Orleans, Glenn Robinson III had the Smoothie King Center glowing with an array of awe-inspiring slams and became the first Pacers player since Fred Jones to be crowned Slam Dunk Champion.

After a head-to-head showdown with Derrick Jones Jr. of the Phoenix Suns, Robinson III's repertoire of slams proved to be too much for the competition, as the Pacers' soaring swingman executed at each turn to be crowned the 2017 Slam Dunk Champ.

"My whole career, my whole life, I've been an underdog," said Glenn Robinson III at the podium, with his trophy sitting next to him. "I'm okay with that. I'm a relaxed, chill guy. I stay out of the way. But when it's time to shine, I think that I definitely want to come with it."

The Slam Dunk Contest, which is comprised of two rounds, featured Robinson III, Clippers All-Star DeAndre Jordan, Magic forward Aaron Gordon, and Suns high-flyer Derrick Jones Jr. The players had a maximum of three attempts to complete each dunk in both the first round and the final round. The slams were graded by five judges on a scale of 6 to 10, resulting in a high score of 50 and a low score of 30. In the first round, each player was given a chance to complete two dunks and the two players with the highest combined score advanced to the head-to-head final.

In the opening round, Robinson III soared over two people, one of which was sitting on the other's shoulders, lifting the ball off the top and slamming it down on his first attempt. The dunk sent the Smoothie King Center into a frenzy and elicited the first perfect 50 of the night, as the judges — NBA legends Gary Payton, David Robinson, Dominique Wilkins, Alonzo Mourning, and Chris Webber — were struck by the athleticism of the dunk.

After the three other competitors had completed their opening dunks, Robinson was ahead of the field.

On his second dunk attempt of the opening round, Robinson III completed a 360-jam in which he dabbed on the finish (lifted his for arm in front of his face, for those unfamiliar with the dab), and was awarded a 41 by the judges, sending him and Jones Jr. of the Suns to the finals.

In a surprise, Gordon of the Magic was unable to advance to the final round, while Clippers big man DeAndre Jordan, despite leaping over rapper DJ Khaled, did not accumulate enough points to make it to the head-to-head round.

Robinson III opened up the show in the final round, getting a hand from Pacers All-Star Paul George. With George holding the ball over his head, Robinson III leapt over the 6-foot, 9-inch George, finishing the dunk with a windmill. The slam, which Robinson took three runups to complete, earned him a 44 from the panel of NBA legends.

His opponent, Jones Jr., struggled to complete the first of his two slams in the final round, paving the way for GR3 to jam his way to the finish.

Needing a 44 or better to win, Robinson III brought PG back on the floor to assist, as well as Boomer and Pacemate Kayla. GR3 flew over all three and dunked with two hands, sending the crowd into a final frenzy and earning him another 50 from the judges to seal the deal.

"I couldn't dunk until my sophomore year in high school, and now not even a decade later, I won an NBA Dunk Contest," Robinson III told reporters after he had won. "Going into this, I hadn't really practiced any trick dunks. I hadn't really got time. I focused on playing. I focused on starting and playing to the best of my ability. When they gave me this chance, it took me a week to come up with some things that nobody's ever seen in the NBA dunk contest."

Prior to the Dunk Contest, Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks won the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, and Eric Gordon of Houston Rockets (and North Central High School in Indianapolis) was crowned champion of the JBL Three Point Contest. All of which set the stage for the night's main event, the Slam Dunk Contest. From there, Robinson III showed what he had been working on for weeks, unveiling a series of acrobatic slams to bring the Slam Dunk trophy back to Indiana for the first time since 2004.

"The shoes I had today, maize and blue, Pacers colors. I'm an Indiana kid," GR3 explained. "To be playing for Indiana and representing the state means a lot to me, and the fans and everybody wanted to see me do great."

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Slam Dunk Contest Rewind: Glenn Robinson III Crowned Champion

Wheat Hotchkiss

A strong Pacers contingent has descended upon New Orleans for All-Star Weekend. On each of the next three nights, a Pacers player will take center stage at the NBA's annual showcase.

Tonight, second-year center Myles Turner will take the floor as part of the United States team in the Rising Stars Challenge (9:00 PM ET on TNT), a showcase for the best first and second-year players in the league.

On Saturday, swingman Glenn Robinson III will take his highflying act to primetime in the 2017 Slam Dunk Contest, the grand finale of All-Star Saturday Night (coverage begins at 8:00 PM ET on TNT).

Then on Sunday, Paul George will make his annual appearance in the All-Star Game (8:00 PM on TNT). It will be the fourth All-Star game for the Pacers' star forward, who set a franchise record with 41 points in last year's game in Toronto.

Despite coming off a grueling back-to-back that saw them play on Wednesday night in Cleveland and then again on Thursday night in Indianapolis, all three Pacers All-Star representatives were in New Orleans bright and early on Friday morning for media availability. Below are some highlights from their time with the press.

GRIII Confident He Can Wow the Crowd in Dunk Contest

Glenn Robinson III was a late bloomer. Believe it or not, he didn't dunk for the first time until his sophomore year in high school. His right arm still has a handful of small scars from dunk attempts gone awry as a young teenager.

But just a few years later, Robinson is set to compete in the world's biggest dunk competition, something he said he's been dreaming about since an early age. Robinson's competition includes Magic forward Aaron Gordon — who lost to Zach LaVine in a dunk-off last year, Clippers All-NBA center DeAndre Jordan, and Suns rookie Derrick Jones Jr.

Robinson has spent the past few weeks coming up with a repertoire for Saturday, coming in early or staying late on the TCU Practice Court at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, rehearsing and fine tuning his ideas.

"You've just got to be creative," Robinson said. "Everybody's done everything, so now I think it's about creativity and getting the fans involved."

George, who competed in the Dunk Contest in both 2012 and 2014 has offered plenty of advice to Robinson heading into the competition. One of his best nuggets, according to Robinson, was to make sure he spends ample energy hyping the crowd up before each attempt.

"It's your show," George said he told his teammate. "You get to rock the show, you get to put on a performance for everybody to watch. So I just told him just live in (the moment). Don't be too nervous — I know he will be — but just let everything happen naturally."

Robinson wouldn't reveal any specifics on what he had planned for the competition, but did say that he had six dunks scripted out — two for the opening round, two for the finals, and two more in the event of a dunk-off.

"I've been working on some stuff," Robinson said. "I'll just put (this way) — it will be something that the fans haven't seen before in an NBA dunk contest."

George said he has seen Robinson's script for Saturday and thinks he will keep the fans entertained. George also hinted that he could be making a cameo appearance in one of Robinson's dunks.

"I won't give any insights on what he's doing, but I might be a part of it," George said with a sheepish grin.

Turner also said he is confident in his teammates' ability to put on a show.

"I know he's got what it takes," Turner said. "Guys haven't really seen him on a national level and I think that kind of plays to his (advantage) a bit. He's going to catch a lot of people by surprise."

Robinson did reveal one dunk we won't be seeing on Saturday night. He said he tried to pull off a double between-the-legs dunk while messing around a couple weeks ago, but "it didn't go well," he joked.

Robinson also said he has reached out to LaVine, the two-time defending champion who decided not to enter this year's competition (he couldn't have competed even if he did enter, as he tore his ACL a few days after the field was announced). Robinson spent the majority of his first NBA season with Minnesota in 2014-15 and said he used to compete in impromptu dunk competitions with fellow rookies LaVine and Andrew Wiggins.

It will be hard to top last year's thrilling duel between LaVine and Gordon. The two players each got perfect scores on both of their dunks in the finals and then again on their first attempt in the dunk-off before LaVine won it on his sixth dunk of the night.

Still, Robinson is optimistic that this year's field can put on a similar show.

"In my opinion, this could probably be one of the best dunk competitions that anybody has (seen)," Robinson said. "We've got a lot of great talent, a lot of guys who jump high."

Turner wasn't named to the Rising Stars Challenge roster as a rookie, in large part because he missed 21 games in the first half of the year with a fractured thumb.

Disappointed by last year's omission, Turner made it a personal goal to be invited to the game in his sophomore season. He made it an easy decision for the league's assistant coaches, who vote to pick the Rising Stars rosters.

Still just 20 years old, Turner enters the All-Star break second on the Pacers in scoring at 15.6 points per game and leading the team in rebounding (7.2 per contest). He is third in the entire NBA in blocks, averaging 2.1 per game. He has also demonstrated exceptional range and efficiency shooting the basketball from the center position, with a .518 field goal percentage, .366 3-point percentage, and .800 free throw percentage.

Scouts across the league are well aware on Turner's abilities, but he still isn't quite a known name to some fans outside of Indiana. He's hoping that will change after this weekend.

"To go out here and just put my talents on display on this stage, I think it would be good for the organization and myself," Turner said.

Like Turner, George also was not chosen for the Rising Stars Challenge as a rookie, but he made the team in his second season. A year later, George was an All-Star and has made the team in every season since then except for 2014-15, when he was out with a broken leg.

Turner said he would love for his career to follow a similar trajectory.

"It's a huge goal," Turner said. "My ambitions are set high. I definitely want to be (an All-Star) sometime soon."

Pacers Have Personal Connections to New Orleans

Both George and Turner were happy to hear that the NBA was hosting the All-Star Game in New Orleans again this year (New Orleans previously hosted the event in 2014).

"This is where my mom is from," George said. "She's from Louisiana, Baton Rouge. So this is great, kind of a homecoming for our family.

"It's beautiful. There's so much culture here, so much tradition. Restaurants — the food is great here."

George said a lot of his family is in town for the weekend, including his parents, sisters, and daughter.

Turner doesn't have family from Louisiana, but he grew up in Dallas, an easy day's drive from New Orleans. He ranks the city among his favorite in the NBA to visit.

"Anytime I can get to the South — I love the South, I'm from the South," Turner said. "I love obviously the warm weather this time of year and (there's) some good food and good people as well."

Though he is still too young to visit any of the popular bars on Bourbon Street, Turner does have a must-visit place when in New Orleans: the popular Cafe Du Monde, whose beignets he described as "fire."

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Pacers All-Star Representatives Descend on New Orleans

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The NBA announced on Thursday that Pacers guard/forward Glenn Robinson III will take part in the Verizon Slam Dunk Contest, part of State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, at the 2017 All-Star Weekend in New Orleans.

All-Star Saturday Night, which also includes the Taco Bell Skills Challenge and the Three-Point Contest, will take place at the Smoothie King Center on Saturday, Feb. 18. Television coverage will begin at 8:00 PM ET on TNT.

In his third NBA season and his second with the Pacers, Robinson is currently averaging 6.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. A 6-6 swingman out of Michigan, he has appeared in 46 games and started 24 for the Pacers in the 2016-17 season while shooting 45 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from 3-point range.

Robinson will be one of several Pacers players to take part in All-Star Weekend. Last week, the league announced that center Myles Turner will play in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge on Friday, Feb. 17 and forward Paul George will play in his fourth career All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 19.

Robinson will be the eighth Pacers player to take part in the Slam Dunk Contest at All-Star Weekend. Fred Jones won the event in 2004. Other Pacers players to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest include George (2012 and 2014), Gerald Green (2013), Jonathan Bender (2001), Antonio Davis (1994), Kenny Williams (1991), and Terrence Stansbury (1985 and 1986). Darnell "Dr. Dunk" Hillman won a season-long dunk contest held over the course of the 1976-77 NBA season.

Robinson's competitors will be Orlando Magic's Aaron Gordon, last year's runner-up, NBA All-Star DeAndre Jordan of the LA Clippers, and Derrick Jones Jr. of the Phoenix Suns.

Gordon returns to Verizon Slam Dunk after a dazzling performance last year that included three consecutive perfect scores of 50. This season, the three-year veteran is averaging a career-high 11.4 points per game. The 6-9 forward has scored at least 20 points six times after recording five 20-point games in his first two seasons combined.

Jordan, a 2015-16 All-NBA First Team selection and a first-time All-Star in 2017, is tied for the NBA lead in rebounding (13.8 rpg) and paces the league in field goal percentage (69.6) for the fifth straight season. The 6-11 center also has a league-high 150 dunks in his ninth season.

Jones has split time this season between the Suns and their NBA Development League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns. The 6-7 rookie forward will become the first player to compete in the NBA Slam Dunk competition and play in the NBA D-League in the same season.  Nicknamed “Airplane Mode” for his leaping ability, Jones won a national dunk contest for high school players in 2015 before playing one season at UNLV.

Verizon Slam Dunk is a two-round event in which the four participants can perform any dunk they choose without time limits. The players have a maximum of three attempts to complete each dunk in both the first round and the final round. Five judges score every dunk on a scale of 6 to 10, resulting in a high score of 50 and a low score of 30.

All four competitors get two dunks in the first round. The two players with the highest combined score for their two dunks advance to the head-to-head final round. The player with the highest combined score for his two dunks in the final round is crowned the champion.

2017 Slam Dunk Contest

What They're Saying: GR3 Becomes NBA Slam Dunk Champion

Slam Dunk Contest Rewind: Glenn Robinson III Crowned Champion

Pacers All-Star Representatives Descend on New Orleans

Glenn Robinson III to Compete in Slam Dunk Contest