NEW ORLEANS - Shortly after hoisting his second Slam Dunk trophy, this one hell have to share, Terrence Ross was stunned to hear that the contests format change was not especially well received. http://www.cheapjerseyswholesalenfl.us/ . "It was one of the best shows ever," said the Raptors guard, disagreeing with the critics. "Its really what people wanted to see. You couldnt see those dunks without three players on the court so it worked out for the best I think." The Slam Dunk Contest - the pride and joy of All-Star Saturday Night - adopted a team concept this year, pitting the three participants from the East against the Wests trio in a two-round showcase. It was, for all intents and purposes, a bust. In the final round, a head-to-head session, the team from the East - consisting of Ross, John Wall and Paul George - defeated the West in a clean sweep. It was an unorthodox victory for Ross, who only threw down one dunk, outside of the initial freestyle round. "Hey, a wins a win," the sophomore said, elated after the competition came to an end, not unlike most in attendance and watching from home. "Im gonna take it either way. Ive never lost a dunk contest at this point so Im happy." The real champion, assuming anyone can really be considered a winner after that performance, was John Wall, who was awarded the fan vote for Dunker of the Night. Wall capped off an anticlimactic evening with the only real jaw-dropping dunk, leaping over Wizards mascot G-Man, taking the ball out of his hands and completing a two-hand reverse jam to seal the Easts victory. Off the top, each team had 90 seconds to work together and complete as many dunks as they could. The team dynamic, allowed the dunkers to collaborate and be creative in their attempts. Ross and the East took advantage, while the West - with Damian Lillard, Harrison Barnes and Ben McLemore - ate up nearly a third of their allotted time before converting a notable slam. To call it organized chaos would be putting it mildly. Mostly, it was a disjointed mess with an occasional highlight, a couple from Ross, who put down a reverse to open the contest. The battle round had promise but lacked any semblance of rhythm or flow, as actual dunks were few and far between. Just as it started to come around, it ended abruptly. Lillard led off the proceedings - competing in his third event of the night - facing Ross, who brought along a friend and colleague for assistance. With last years trophy in hand, Raptors global ambassador Drake accompanied Ross on the floor to the tune of Started from the Bottom. Ross, wearing a boxing robe as he entered, would miss his first two attempts before eventually taking the ball from Drake, putting it through his legs and throwing it down with the opposite hand. As it turns out, Drake was a late substitution for Ross teammate and original assistant. "At first I knew the dunk I wanted to do and then I was like, DeMar (DeRozan) is going to do it," said the Raptors sophomore. "And then I was like, let me ask Drake because that would be a little better fit with him being the global ambassador, so I said that might work. I had fun with it, he was willing to help in any way he could." In the end, Ross was happy with the format change and embraced the chance to team up rather than go at it alone. "We got to throw off the shot clock, the backboard, bounce it off the ground," he said. "It was fun, everybody loved it." Ross maintained the team concept allows participants to be more creative, giving each of them a greater opportunity to come up and execute something new. For that reason, he believes the format should be here to stay. "It was fun, just coming up with certain things. I was trying to see if we could throw it off the jumbotron and see if we could do something like that but they said that would probably break it." Format changes encapsulated the entire night, certainly not what the league was going for. The Skills Challenge also had participants competing in teams for the first time. DeRozan - who was paired with Bucks rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo - more than held his own, sinking the chest pass on his first attempts and nailing the jump shot from the top of the key in two tries. His partner needed three tries to complete the pass and as a result, they were eliminated in the opening round, bested by Michael Carter-Williams and Victor Oladipo by 1.7 seconds. That pair would go on to lose to Lillard and Trey Burke by a tenth of a second in the finals. Former Raptor Marco Belinelli, the eventual winner of the Three-Point Contest, would not have made it past the first round if not for a new twist which allowed for one entire rack filled with money balls. He went on to defeat Wizards guard Bradley Beal in a tie-breaking round. cheapjerseyswholesalenfl . The 29-year-old Eaves has played in only three games with the Red Wings this season, averaging 9:14 of ice time after a knee injury in the preseason. cheapseahawksjerseysfromchina . And, for a few hectic seconds, Peter Budaj had to do it without his stick. The Canadiens goaltender lost his stick in a crowd while the Capitals were pressing in the offensive zone. He started to reach down and pick it up, but everything was happening too fast. Finally, he used his pads to stop a close-range shot from Martin Erat and smothered the puck with about three minutes remaining, and Montreal held on for a 3-2 win Friday night.NEW ORLEANS - Down 22 points in the third quarter to the surging Brooklyn Nets, the New Orleans Pelicans appeared headed to a lopsided defeat. Thats when Tyreke Evans turned the game around. Evans scored 22 of his season-high 33 points in the second half and the short-handed Pelicans rallied to win 109-104 in overtime Monday night. Driving to the basket repeatedly, Evans scored 14 as New Orleans closed the third period on a 29-10 run to get back in the game. Anthony Morrow, who did not score until the final 2 minutes of regulation, had 11 points the rest of the way as the Pelicans completed their largest comeback of the season and the second-biggest in franchise history. "I was just being aggressive," Evans said. "Thats what kept me going, especially before their defence set up. I was just playing my game. We could have easily given up tonight, but coach (Monty Williams) got on us in the locker room." Morrow hit a 3-pointer to give New Orleans a 106-100 lead in overtime and all but sealed the victory with another 3 that made it 109-102 with 54.5 seconds left. Anthony Davis added 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Pelicans, who matched their season best with a three-game winning streak despite playing without Eric Gordon (left knee tendinitis) for the second consecutive game. Paul Pierce had 24 points and Deron Williams 23 for the Nets, who lost for the first time in five games after winning at Dallas in overtime Sunday. Brooklyn fell behind 98-93 with 1:14 left in regulation but scored the next five points to force overtime. "We had an opportunity to win the game," Nets coach Jason Kidd said. "It went into overtime, and we just couldnt get it back." This one appeared over when the Nets went up 66-44 early in the third quarter, but Brian Roberts started the rally with a 3-pointer and Evans scored New Orleans next eight points to help the Pelicans close the deficit to 67-59. Williams and Joe Johnson hit consecutive 3s as the Nets went back up 74-61, but the Pelicans closed with a 12-2 spurt that started when Pierce was given a technical foul for confronting Alexis Ajinca after Ajinca was called for an offensive foul with a high elbow. Evans converted a four-point play with 1.1 seconds left, hitting a long shot while being fouled to cut the deficit to 76-73 entering the fourth. It was only his 17th 3 in 77 attempts. "It was just confidence," he said. "I had it going at the time, and it was a rhythm shot. I didnt think about it, and it wentt in. www.cheapjerseyswholesalenfl.us/cheapseahawksjerseysfromchina.html. It got the crowd going, and we fed off that." After falling behind again by nine in the fourth quarter, the Pelicans held Brooklyn without a point for more than 4 minutes as they rallied to take their first lead since early in the first quarter, 91-89, on Evans driving layup. "He got to the basket at will," Davis said. "He made some big shots for us. He was huge." Then it was Brooklyns turn to come back. With the Nets trailing 98-93, Mason Plumlee dunked after the Nets grabbed two offensive rebounds, and Pierce drained a contested 3-pointer with 24.1 seconds left to tie the score at 98. Morrow, who took all 11 of his shots after the third quarter, missed a contested 3 at the regulation buzzer. But he didnt miss in overtime. "We just stuck together," he said. "When we came into halftime, I just said we have to stop complaining and getting mad at ourselves and each other on little stuff. We all want to win. Nobody on this team is selfish. Take a deep breath and play through the lows." Morrows big shots in the fourth quarter came right before Williams planned to take him out for Luke Babbitt. "I couldnt get Luke there in time," Williams said. "He comes right back and hits a shot, runs over to me and says, I aint going to miss no more! I aint going to miss no more!" The Nets, who led the Pelicans 51-28 at halftime of their first meeting in February, raced to a 58-42 advantage at the break this time. The shots stopped falling in the second half, when Brooklyn camped out behind the 3-point line. The Nets went 10 of 40 on 3-pointers overall, 4 of 23 after halftime. Meanwhile, the Pelicans kept attacking the basket, hitting 12 of 19 shots in the third quarter. "I dont have the stats, but I know they got a lot of layups," said Nets guard Shaun Livingston, who had all but two of his 10 points in the first half. "We have to make them take tougher shots. Thats on all of us." NOTES: The Pelicans are 5-0 in overtime. ... Andrei Kirilenko did not play for the Nets after spraining his left ankle against Dallas on Sunday. He already had missed 26 games with back spasms, three with a calf strain and two with a sprained right ankle. ... Pierce is in his 16th NBA season, matching the combined years in the league for the Pelicans five starters. ... Marcus Thornton, who scored 20 points against Dallas on Sunday, left with a bruised back late in the first half and did not play in the second half, finishing with three points. ' ' '
