Arizona Wildcats alum Chase Budinger took part in the annual Slam Dunk Contest in Orlando on Saturday. The event, which is part of the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities, capped off a packed night of skills exhibitions. Budinger went up against Derrick Williams, Jeremy Evans and Paul George in the contest.
Budinger got things started right away by dunking over P. Diddy for his opening attempt. The Diddy Dunk looked like the first-round jam to beat, but it was quickly bested by George dunking over two people and Williams dunking over a motorcycle. In the second round, Budinger went for a nice windmill jam, but it was immediately topped by Evans dunking two thrown balls at once. George then opted for a light-out (literally), glow-in-the-dark, blacklight-assisted dunk. Williams followed up with a less-flashy but still impressive dunk, by performing a 360 dunk off a ball that teammate Ricky Rubio bounced off the side of the backboard. Budinger's third dunk was a blindfolded reverse jam.
For the first time, the winner of the Dunk Contest was decided by Twitter vote and text message. Over 3 million votes were cast and the winner of the contest was Evans, with over 29% of the vote.
The first skills event of the evening was the annual Haier Shooting Stars competition. The event, which featured four teams each comprised of a current NBA player, a current WNBA player and an NBA legend, required the teammates to alternate different shots from different spots on the court, ending with a half-court shot in each round. The team with the best time wins. Team New York emerged victorious as Landry Fields of the New York Knicks and his teammates, Cappie Poindexter and Allan Houston, managed the best time of 37.3 seconds.
In the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, an obstacle course consisting of dribbling, passing and shooting, Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs took home the trophy by topping Rajon Rondo's time in a playoff.
In the Foot Locker 3-Point Contest, Kevin Love and Kevin Durant had a finals tiebreaker which ended with Love taking home the prize by a final score of 17-14.
For more on All-Star weekend, stay tuned to this StoryStream or head over to SB Nation's dedicated NBA hub. For more on the Suns, head over to Bright Side of the Sun.
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