All-Stars Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade represented their respective conferences as captains for the firs ever team-oriented All-Star Saturday Night. The team that accumulated the most points would walk away as All-Star Saturday Night champions.
The event began with Sears Shooting Stars event. Team Harden consisted of former NBA player Sam Cassell, Seattle Storm post player Tina Thompson, and James Harden of the Houston Rockets finishing at 37.9. Team Westbrook featured Robert Horry, Minnesota Linx star Maya Moore, and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook completing the event at 29.5 seconds. The West finished with a combined time of one minute and seven seconds. Team Bosh featured Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins, Chicago Sky forward Swin Cash, and Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh. The trio finished in 50 seconds. Team Lopez consisted of former NBA player Mugsy Bouges, Indiana Fever All-Star Tamika Catchings, and Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez finishing in a minute and seven seconds for a total time of 1:57.
Team Bosh and Team Westbrook advanced to the championship round due to finishing with the best times on their respective squads. Team Bosh finished at 1:29 when Dominique Wilkins drained the half court shot. The East won the Shooting Stars title when Team Westbrook failed to nail a half court shot. The East gained ten points for winning the event but the West gained 20 points for winning the first round.
The Taco Bell Skills Challenge began with Jeff Teague of the Atlanta Hawks who finished at 49.4 seconds. Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons finished at 32.2 seconds. Jrue Holiday of the Philadelphia 76ers finished at 29.3 second. The East finished the first round with a time of one minute and fifty seconds.
Jeremy Lin of the hometown Houston Rockets completed the course in 35.8 seconds. Damian Lillard of the Portland Trailblazers was next with 28.8. Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs was last with 48.7 seconds. Parker struggled, failing to make a jumper from the top of the key hurting the West’s chances. Team West finished with a time of a minute and fifty three seconds.
Jrue Holiday faced off against Damian Lillard in the finals. Holiday put pressure on Lillard finishing the course in 35.6 seconds. Lillard walked away with the contest finishing the course in 29.8 seconds and becoming the 2013 Skills Challenge champion.
The Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout began with Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry scoring 17 points. Ryan Anderson of the New Orleans Hornets bested Curry by scoring 18 points. Matt Bonner of the San Antonio Spurs finished things off for the West by scoring 19 points.
Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers represented the East with 18 points. Paul George of the Indiana Pacers struggled scoring only 10 points. Steve Novak of the New York Knicks scored 17 points giving the West the first round win.
Irving opened up the finals match-up by scoring 23 big points. Spurs forward Matt Bonner scored 20 points in the final round giving the 2013 Three-Point Shootout trophy to Cavaliers All-Star guard Kyrie Irving.
Heading into the final event the West led 70-50 in total points.
Former Slam Dunk champion Gerald Green kicked off the festivities by catching the ball off the side of the backboard, bringing it down between his legs and reversing it. Green was awarded a perfect score of 50.
New York Knick James White, accompanied by flight attendants recreated Dr. J’s famous free throw line dunk with a two-handed twist earning him a score of 45.
Toronto Raptors guard Terrance Ross started off poorly missing five consecutive dunks before finally flushing a behind the back windmill dunk for a score of 50.
Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets threw the ball off the backboard and put down a 360 dunk one-handed dunk to earn a score of 39.
Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe gave up on his attempted dunk in favor of a 360 dunk nearly behind the backboard for a score of 39
The reigning Slam Dunk champion Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz brought out former Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton as a prop who merely held the ball out for Evans who leaped over the sitting center for a dunk. Evans received a score of 47.
James White of the Knicks missed all of his attempted dunks during the second session of dunks and received a minimum score of 32.
Gerald Green’s second dunk involved him cutting the net off the rim and attempting to dunk the ball twice with each hand. Green failed to complete the dunk and was awarded a score of 32.
Terrance Ross was the only player on the East to deliver a dunk throwing down a 360 one-handed dunk for a score of 49.
Nuggets forward Faried tossed the ball of the glass, caught it, threw it between his legs and hammered it home for a perfect score of 50.
Eric Bledsoe followed up Faried’s 50 with a 50 for throwing down a reverse windmill dunk.
Jeremy Evans did a 360 and dunked two basketballs for a score of 43.
The West went into the championship dunk-off up 140-70 with no chance of losing the championship. Jeremy Evans, a painter in his spare time, dunked over a painting of himself and autographed it afterwards. Terrance Ross paid tribute to former Raptor Vince Carter by mimicking his off the backboard 360 dunk.
For his second dunk Evans jumped over Dallas Maverick Dahntay Jones and flushed a one-handed jam. Ross capped off the night by jumping over the young son of Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, going through his legs and dunking the ball.
Terrance Ross received 58% of the fans votes online to become the 2013 Sprite Slam Dunk champion. Despite Ross’ win the West accumulated more points and walked away as the inaugural All-Star Saturday Night champions.
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