10:51 p.m.: The fans have spoken … or rather, the fans have shared their opinions by sending text messages to the telephone number "DUNKS" marked either "A" or "B." By a razor-thin margin, Robinson wins his third title, earning 51 percent of the vote to DeRozan's 49. A worthy champion, yet again. Nate Robinson, everyone.
10:42 p.m.: Robinson gets a little too conservative to start the final round — he sticks with the tried and true "one bounce to the floor, throw it down" motion. DeRozan outdoes him by leaping over Weems for a high-flying one-hander. Robinson senses the stakes have been raised, so he comes to life — his second dunk is an off-the-backboard, 180, one-handed slam that leaves him dizzy upon landing. An incredible display from Robinson, and if there's any justice in the world (and I think there is), it should be enough for Robinson's third dunk contest victory in five years.
10:34 p.m.: DeRozan steals the show in round two, the teammate-assisted round — DeRozan crosses the baseline for a reverse dunk, taking a pass bounced off the side of the backboard by Raptors teammate Sonny Weems. Not something you see every year in the dunk contest, the old "side of the backboard" trick. DeRozan gets a perfect 50 from the judges, outdoing Robinson, who makes a reverse 180 dunk on an alley-oop pass from Knicks teammate Gallinari.
10:24 p.m.: Gerald Wallace channels his inner Vince Carter, pulling the old "tuck the ball against your waist in midair, then throw it down" move. Solid, but done before — only a 38 for Wallace. Nate Robinson outdoes everyone (as usual), bouncing the ball on the floor at the free-throw line before tomahawking it down for the slam. An impressive move, and a first-place score of 44 from the five judges.
10:20 p.m.: All right, it's time for the main event. DeMar DeRozan leads things off with a nice through-the-legs reverse, earning a 42; Shannon Brown follows it up with a textbook right-to-left hand transfer for a one-handed slam. A nice dunk, and well-executed, but nothing to write home about. A 37 for Brown, who's likely done for the night.
10:07 p.m.: Wait a minute, that wasn't a playoff? So Pierce's 20 actually counted for the final round? Man, if I had a nickel for every time Charles Barkley lied to me. Pierce's 20 holds up in the final, as Stephen Curry manages just a 17 in the final round and The Truth stands alone. Nothing quite like a great redemption story. Pierce's two three-point shootout appearances in his career now include one last-place finish and one first. He's the first Celtic since Larry Bird to win the event. Hats off to him.
10:02 p.m.: Talk about anticlimactic. Pierce blows Billups away, knocking down 20 shots in the tiebreaker round and watching as Billups makes a pathetic attempt at catching him, managing just a 12 for himself. It's Pierce versus Stephen Curry in the final. All bets are off.
9:59 p.m.: You know what this means? We've got ourselves a tie-breaking shootout. You've got two spots in the finals, and the frontrunner Curry is guaranteed one; the other is up for grabs between the two wily veterans, Pierce and Billups. I predict the spot goes to a former Celtics lottery pick and an NBA Finals MVP. Also, to further clarify, not Billups.
9:57 p.m.: Up next, we get two of the tallest, lankiest, awkwardest competitors in three-point shootout history, and both of them flop. Danilo Gallinari puts up a 15 and Channing Frye shoots a 15 as well — both are done. Last is the Heat's Daequan Cook, and he puts up yet another 15. All three are going home early. Better luck next year, guys.
9:46 p.m.: Chauncey Billups immediately ties Pierce by putting up a 17 of his own… which means I'll have to consult my official three-point shootout rulebook to find the tiebreaker rules, as there's a good chance that 17 will leave The Truth and Mr. Big Shot on the bubble for advancing to the next round. Stephen Curry shows no rookie jitters in first three-point shootout, knocking 'em down left and right to finish with 18. He's the leader in the clubhouse.
9:42 p.m.: Great all-time moment in candid Paul Pierce commentary: The Celtics' captain referred to it as "embarrassing the franchise" when he failed to make more than eight shots in the 2002 shootout, getting knocked out in the first round without breaking a sweat. Pierce starts out slow this year as well, but he heats up toward the end. A barrage of late jumpers brings Pierce to a final first-round score of 17, a respectable total to give him a decent shot of advancing.
9:35 p.m.: Just a quick question — if you sat 10 of the most avid NBA fans down in a room and asked them all, "Who's the defending three-point shootout champion?" how many of them do you think could come up with the correct answer of Daequan Cook? Just wondering.
9:21 p.m.: When Steve Nash and Deron Williams are two competitors, you know you're looking at two guys with no idea how to win the finals of anything. (Sorry, cheap shot.) But someone's gotta win, and in this case it's Nash, who runs the course in an impressive 29.9. Williams starts out strong, knocking down the first two passes and the jumper from the top of the key, but he chokes after that. Four straight botched passes, and D-Will is done. Nash gets his second career Skills Challenge title.
9:11 p.m.: Russell Westbrook looks shaky in his first Skills Challenge, missing the target on a couple of passes and clanking out a jumper from the top of the key. A couple of small mistakes are enough to doom you against this field. Brandon Jennings, the other Challenge newbie, shows him up, and then a pair of past champions outdo them both. Steve Nash completes the course in 35 seconds flat, moving into the Challenge lead, but Deron Williams then beats him out by throwing up a 34.1, cruising into the final round. It'll be Nash and D-Will in the final. This is one for the old guard (or, in Williams' case, the 25-year-old guard).
9:04 p.m.: Welcome to the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, ironically named because it looks hardly more difficult than walking into one's local Mexican fast food establishment and ordering a chalupa. Basically the goal is to make a layup, dribble around a bunch of posts, pass the ball through a hole and into a net, hit a jumper, rinse and repeat. Child's play for the NBA's best guards.
8:54 p.m.: The home team obliterates the outsiders from L.A. in the final round, as all three Dallas shooters get really good looks at the basket from halfcourt before Dirk knocks one down at the 34.3-second mark. There's no way L.A. can compete with that — Pau gives it his all, but he can't knock down the halfcourt shot until around 55 seconds, at which point it's completely irrelevant. Congrats to Dirk, Kenny and WNBA star Becky Hammon for finishing the deal — but on a down note, has anyone ever looked less excited about winning anything than Dirk does right now? He looks like he either just made a halfcourt jump shot or had a root canal. I really wouldn't be sure which, except I don't know any dentists in the Dallas area open on Saturday nights.
8:48 p.m.: As it turns out, Powell's heroics end up not mattering. Team Texas, no thanks to hometown hero Dirk Nowitzki, beats the 1:46 mark when former Rocket Kenny Smith hits the halfcourt jumper at 1:26, besting both Atlanta and Sacramento. The top two teams move on to the final round, and that would be Texas and L.A. Thanks for nothing, Nicole Powell…
8:46 p.m.: We've got some early drama here in Dallas. Team Sacramento needed to beat Atlanta's 1:47 mark to stay alive, but Kings All-Stars Chris Webber and Tyreke Evans just couldn't get it done from halfcourt. Look who saves the day — it's former Monarchs All-Star Nicole Powell, who hits a longball at the 1:46 mark to knock Atlanta out. By a single second. Gotta love it.
8:41 p.m.: Leave it to Los Angeles to put on a show. Team L.A. one-ups the Atlanta squad — alongside teammates Pau Gasol (the Lakers' three-time All-Star) and Marie Ferdinand-Harris (the Sparks' three-time All-Star), former Clipper Brent Barry steals the show by making the halfcourt shot and finishing off the round in a minute flat. The old men are dominating so far.
8:37 p.m.: We're underway with the Haier Shooting stars competition, a timed event featuring teams made up of past and present NBA stars combined with WNBA talent. Team Atlanta, made up of Hawks' All-Star Joe Johnson, WNBA Rookie of the Year Angel McCoughtry of the Atlanta Dream, and former Hawk Steve Smith, starts off with a strong showing, making all their shots in a minute and 47 seconds. Smith knocks down the halfcourt jumper for Atlanta, finishing off the round with gusto.
10:25 a.m.: It wouldn't be NBA All-Star weekend without a whole lot of Saturday night fun and games.
You've got the Shooting Stars competition, where current players team up with past players and WNBA stars and shoot the lights out. You've got the skills challenge, a pass, dribble and shoot competition that rewards speed and quickness. You've got the three-point shootout, where the game's best long-range assassins square off.
And then comes the main event. The night's dunk contest will answer all your questions: Can Nate Robinson win title No. 3? Will Gerald Wallace's strength and athleticism shine? Does DeMar DeRozan have anything left? And, umm … who on earth is Shannon Brown, and what is he doing here?
All of this and more, coming right up. You don't want to miss a minute of the All-Star festivities.
