NEW ORLEANS — Look, up in the sky . . . it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Dwight Howard — super slam-dunk champion.
A red cape trailing behind him, Orlando’s man of steel made like Superman and won perhaps the best dunk contest, definitely the most creative, in NBA history to close a memorable All-Star Saturday.
Using a variety of props as well as teammate Jameer Nelson, Howard scored perfect 50s from judges on his first two dunks before the contest was turned over to fan voting for the first time in the final round.
Fans also picked the 6-foot-11 Howard, who dispelled an old dunking myth: Big men can’t fly high.
The dunk contest, bland for so many years as the game’s high risers seemed to run out of ideas, was freshened up by some of the most creative aerial assaults in memory.
Howard, Minnesota’s Gerald Green, Toronto’s Jamario Moon and Memphis’ Rudy Gay all used tape, ladders and teammates to show off their stuff.
In the second round, Minnesota’s Rashad McCants sat on the top step of the ladder and handed the ball off to a rising Green, who crushed a dunk.
That’s when Howard stripped off his blue Magic jersey to reveal an “S” on his chest. He then donned the cape, and after a running start from near midcourt, took off just inside the free- throw line and slammed one down.
In the final round, Green performed two acrobatic dunks, one in only green socks after removing his sneakers. But neither of those could top Howard’s last two efforts.
First, Howard bounced the ball off the floor, tapped it left-handed off the backboard and dunked with his right hand. For Howard’s finale, Nelson affixed a miniature Orlando backboard next to the rim and balanced a ball on it.
Howard flew in from the right side, picked the ball off cleanly and slammed it in. He then only had to wait for fans to text message a result that seemed to be a no-brainer.
Howard won in a landslide, receiving 78 percent of the vote.
Long bombs.
Earlier, Jason Kapono showed nobody’s close to him from long distance.
The NBA’s best 3-point shooter this season, the Toronto forward with the silky touch won his second straight 3-Point Shootout, tying a 22-year-old record with a final round of 25.
Kapono missed his first two shots in the last round before making 10 straight. By the time he approached the last rack of balls, Kapono had already clinched the win and didn’t have to fire up another shot.
But he knocked down a few more anyway, matching three-time winner Craig Hodges’ mark of 25 set in 1986. When his final shot swished through, Kapono, who made all five money balls — worth two points apiece — and went 20-for-25 in the last round.
Footnotes.
In the Skills Challenge, Utah’s Deron Williams was flawless and fast.
With a nearly perfect run through an obstacle course of dribbling, passing and shooting, the Jazz point guard defeated New Orleans playmaker Chris Paul in the final round.
• In the night’s first event, San Antonio’s Becky Hammon, David Robinson and Tim Duncan won the Shooting Stars competition.
