Blake Griffin thrills L.A. crowd to win dunk contest

But in the NBA's All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest, fans in L.A.'s Staples Center were looking for spectacular Clippers rookie Blake Griffin to do something amazing.

Done and done.

He soared. He spun. He hung on the rim by his elbow.

And then (ho hum) he dunked over a car.

In fan on-line voting that determined the outcome of the final, Griffin received 68% to defeat Washington Wizards 7-footer JaVale McGee, son of former women's star Pam McGee, who played at Southern California and in the WNBA.

Her son didn't order a prop as outrageous as an automobile but did complete dunks of two balls on one jump and three balls on another.

Griffin, a 6-10 forward who leads the NBA with 137 dunks, has posterized a number of players this season. This time, he posterized the official car of the NBA — a Kia Optima — by jumping over the hood, taking a lob through the sun roof from Clippers teammate Baron Davis and dunking two-handed.

"It was actually my idea to use the car," Griffin said. "When they first came to me with the dunk contest idea, I was like, 'So I can jump over a car?'

"We actually didn't work on it at all. I got the dimensions and all that. Figured I could probably clear it."

DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors was a hard-luck non-finalist. DeRozan, who grew up in Los Angeles and played at Southern California, had two impressive dunks, including a perfect score of 50 on his second, when he alley-ooped to himself and threw down a one-handed windmill reverse.

But he received just 44 points from the judges (former dunking greats) on his first dunk — merely catching the ball off the basket support, putting it between his legs and throwing it through the hoop.

His two-dunk total of 94 was third to McGee's 99 and Griffin's 95. Serge Ibaka of Oklahoma City was also eliminated in the first round despite completing a dunk after taking off at the free-throw line.

The Three-Point Contest boiled down to two Boston Celtics —Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, the all-time leader in three-pointers made — and Miami Heat forward James Jones.

Pierce, the defending champion, barely made it into the three-man final, needing to hit his last shot (the money ball) at the buzzer to finish third.

Then, in the final, Jones, pretty much overlooked amid the season-long hype about teammates LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, upset the Celtics duo and won with a total of 20 points.

"I prefer for the other guys to get all of the attention and I prefer to sit in the corner silently and punish teams," Jones said. "It's a very familiar territory. I'm not the superstar on my team but I know I'm an integral piece, and guys like myself help teams win."

The first two competitions were met with relative indifference by the too-cool-for-school L.A. crowd.

First up was the Shooting Stars, a competition among four teams made up of a WNBA player, a current NBA player and a former NBA player. It was won by the Atlanta team of Coco Miller, Al Horford and Steve Smith.

Team Atlanta's motivation seemed mostly to be beating Team Texas and trash-talking former Houston Rockets star Kenny Smith, now a TNT analyst.

"It was fun to beat Kenny Smith, so we don't have to hear his mouth," said Smith, now an NBA TV analyst.

Horford said: "Kenny was doing a lot of talking in the locker room and questioning if I should be in this shooting contest. There you go, Kenny."

Next up was the Skills Challenge among five terrific ball-handling guards, testing their speed, dribbling, passing and shooting.

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors emerged the victor, beating out Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook, New Orleans Hornets' Chris Paul, Chicago Bulls' Derrick Rose and Washington Wizards' John Wall.

The crowd warmed up for the Three-Point Contest, with the Lakers fans in attendance particularly enjoying the chance to boo Pierce and Allen.

Then the fans went a little nuts in the dunk contest.

Not that they were that impressed by a Kia Optima. This is L.A., after all.

But it's not every day they see a guy jump over a car on a basketball court, and not every day they see a Clipper taking center stage for the NBA.