The Minnesota Timberwolves’ Gerald Green will defend his crown in the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk competition to be held on NBA All-Star Weekend Saturday Night Feb. 16, at New Orleans Arena (8 p.m. ET on TNT). Green will compete against two first-time entrants – the Memphis Grizzlies’ Rudy Gay and former D-Leaguer Jamario Moon of the Toronto Raptors -- as well as the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard, who competed in the 2007 contest.

DWIGHT HOWARD WON IT. SEE COMPLETE NOTES FROM THE EVENT HERE.

For the first time, fans will have the final say in deciding the winner of the NBA basketball Slam Dunk competition. Following the concluding round of dunks, fans will be able to cast their votes via SMS TXT message and at NBA.com to determine this year’s winner. The dunker with the most fan votes will be named the winner of the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk contest. A panel of judges will continue to play a key role by determining which two participants advance to the final round. During the final round, each judge’s vote will count the same as a fan vote.

Last year in Las Vegas, Green, then a member of the Boston Celtics, outlasted defending champion Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks for the NBA basketball Slam Dunk championship. Green tallied the three highest scores of the night, including a perfect score of 50 on his final dunk as he windmilled while hurdling an All-Star table.

Golden State’s Jason Richardson was the last player to win back-to-back NBA basketball Slam Dunk titles, capturing the 2002 and 2003 competitions. The only previous repeat Slam Dunk champion was Chicago’s Michael Jordan, who won the 1987 and 1988 contests.

The dunker with the lowest total score from the first round will compete first in the final round. Dunks then will alternate until each player has completed two. Time limit rules still apply. After the four finals dunks are completed, fan voting polls will open via SMS TXT message and at NBA.com. Each judge will then provide commentary on the dunkers and hold up a placard with his vote for the winner. The judge’s votes will be combined with the SMS TXT and NBA.com votes to determine the champion.


2008 NBA SLAM DUNK CONTEST PARTICIPANTS

Participant, Team Pos. Ht. Wt.
Rudy Gay, Memphis F 6-8 222
Gerald Green, Minnesota* F 6-8 200
Dwight Howard, Orlando C 6-11 265
Jamario Moon, Toronto F 6-8 205

* - indicates 2007 winner


NBA SLAM DUNK CONTEST HISTORY: YEAR-BY-YEAR WINNERS

1984: Larry Nance, Phoenix 1985: Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta 1986: Spud Webb, Atlanta 1987: Michael Jordan, Chicago 1988: Michael Jordan, Chicago 1989: Kenny Walker, New York 1990: Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta 1991: Dee Brown, Boston 1992: Cedric Ceballos, Phoenix 1993: Harold Miner, Miami 1994: Isaiah Rider, Minnesota 1995: Harold Miner, Miami 1996: Brent Barry, L.A. Clippers 1997: Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers 2000: Vince Carter, Toronto 2001: Desmond Mason, Seattle 2002: Jason Richardson, Golden State 2003: Jason Richardson, Golden State 2004: Fred Jones, Indiana 2005: Josh Smith, Atlanta 2006: Nate Robinson, New York 2007: Gerald Green, Boston

2007 NBA SLAM DUNK CONTEST RECAP

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest is a favorite event in NBA All-Star Weekend. Legendary NBA Slam Dunk contest performances from champions like Vince Carter, Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkens and Spud Webb will be remembered forever.

Live Slam Dunk contest notes up top, rosters and preview lower down on this page.

LIVE 2007 NBA SLAM DUNK CONTEST NOTES

The hottest event of the evening, and sometimes of the entire weekend, is on.

Tyrus Thomas went first, taking a bounce from teammate Ben Gordon, missing a reverse dunk attempt first, passing on trying the second, missing the third, and then waved Gordon off, stood at the foul line, bounced the ball backwards between his legs against the backboard, lept up straight on, caught it with two hands and threw it down hard with no real twists. He got a 37.

Gerald Green went next, starting in the right corner, assisted by teammate Paul Pierce. And the dunk was interesting: Pierce ran at the backboard along the sideline and carefully bounced it off the right corner of the backboard, and Green soared in, caught it in mid-air with two hands and swung it around before putting it in. Awesome dunk. He got a 48. I thought it was a 49 or 50.

Dwight Howard was third, and worked alone, coming down the middle after initially starting from the right-side three-point elbow, jumped, held the ball with two hands, swung it around and put it down nicely, getting a 43.

Defending NBA slam dunk champ Nate Robinson went last, starting up top, lobbing the ball high, bouncing it under the rim, jumped insanely high, caught it in the air with one hand and his legs twisting, almost flying like a super hero, and put it down. THe judges only gave him a 45. I thought it deserved a 48 or 49.

So after the first set of slam dunks Green led with 48, Nate Rob second with 45.

For the second dunk Tyrus Thomas went down the middle. Teammate Ben Gordon, standing under the rim, was holding the ball while Thomas ran down the middle. Gordon bounced it down and Thomas jumped directly over Gordon, caught it in the air and threw it down with one hand. He actually tore the net in the dunk. I've never seen that happen before. So, a break was taken as workmen came out with a yellow ladder, climbed up, removed the rest of the torn net and started putting on a new one.

D-Howard went second, holding a small sticker with his face on it in his left hand, ran down the middle, took a lob from teammate Jameer Nelson who was standing under the rim, and on the left side of the rim dunked the ball with his right hand while extending his left arm as high as possible on the left side of the glass, sticking the sticker ridiculously high up. Creative, good stuff! He got a 42.

Nate Robinson came from the left corner, running baseline while teammate David Lee stood in the paint holding his arm straight up with the ball resting in his palm. Robinson ran in, jumped, took the ball from Lee while the ball was still resting on Lee's hand (in other words, Lee didn't throw or bounce it) and put in a fairly standard twisting one-hander. He got a 45.

Gerald Green is up, and made sure to change sneakers while everyone was watching. Teammate Paul Pierce originally took a cardboard cutout of Nate Robinson and was going to use it, but then they grabbed the real Nate and had him stand in the paint. Green then proceeded to remove his top, revealing a Dee Brown #7 Celtics jersey from years past. He then ran down the middle, jumped over Robinson's head while covering his eyes with his forearm and legs twisting, uncovered his eyes at the last second before putting it down. It was beautiful. He got a ____.

The 2007 NBA Slam Dunk finals are Green vs. Robinson.

Robinson went first, coming down the middle, bouncing the ball up and leaping up just trying to cram it with one hand, missing his first two before putting it down with the third try. He was grabbing the rim with the left hand while throwing it down with the right. Judges gave him a 39.

Michael Jordan has been the toughest judge, but he's been consistent, so that's fine.

Green, after consulting with Pierce, started from teh right-side three-point elbow. Teammate Paul Pierce, standing out of bounds behind and to the left side of the basket, lobbed a pass in that Green caught and threw down pretty straight-away with two hands. He got a 41.

Robinson is starting at centercourt and is trying to bounce it off the backboard to catch, twist and throw down a 360. He's passed on a few attempts, not actually missing. He's on his fifth attempt now and is moving closer to the basket now and is rapidly losing steam. He is getting tired and maybe nervous. And was unable to put anything down within the two minute time limit. So all of that just counts as one miss. He gets to try again now with a fresh two minutes. But he looks extremely tired. And on the 10th try he finally got it, throwing it off the backboard while at the free throw line, running, leaping, catching it and putting down a reverse 180 dunk and seemed to get a sudden extra burst of energy. He got a 41, which is actually pretty fantastic considering he was struggling.

Green, up next, put a table with a black all-star tablecloth in the paint, just outside of the circle. And then came down the middle and launched himself over it throwing down a windmill, drawing a perfect score of 50 from the judges, winning the contest.

Gerald Green is the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk champion.



NBA SLAM DUNK CONTEST PREVIEW

New York’s Nate Robinson will defend his crown in the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk competition to be held on NBA All-Star Saturday Night, Feb. 17 at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Robinson will compete against three first-time entrants – Boston’s Gerald Green, who is an alumnus of the NBA Development League, Orlando’s Dwight Howard and Chicago’s Tyrus Thomas – for this year’s title.

Last year in Houston, the 5-9 Robinson outlasted Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala 47-46 in a dunk-off to become only the second sub-6-foot winner in contest history joining Spud Webb, the 1986 champion. Webb provided the bounce pass for Robinson’s only 50-point dunk of the competition.

Golden State’s Jason Richardson was the last player to win back-to-back NBA Slam Dunk titles capturing the 2002 and 2003 competitions. The only previous repeat Slam Dunk champion was Chicago’s Michael Jordan, who won the 1987 and 1988 contests.

The judges of this year’s NBA Slam Dunk competition are incredible: Jordan, who is the all-time All-Star Game scoring leader with 262 points in 14 appearances; 1985 and 1990 Slam Dunk champion and Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins; 1997 NBA Slam Dunk champion and starting guard for this year’s Western Conference All-Stars Kobe Bryant; 2000 Slam Dunk champ and 2007 Eastern Conference All-Star reserve Vince Carter and 11-time NBA All-Star and Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Julius “Dr. J” Erving.

NBA SLAM DUNK CONTEST RULES

There are two rule changes for this year’s competition: Upon receiving the ball from the referee, players will have a two-minute time limit to complete their dunk. If a player hasn’t completed a dunk when the two-minute clock expires, he will have two more attempts to do so. Also new this year is the use of television instant replay, at the discretion of the referee, for clarification of rules compliance.

The NBA Slam Dunk contest will be broadcast live nationally as part of the NBA All-Star Saturday Night.

Below is the lineup for the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk participants followed by past slam dunk contest winners:

2007 SPRITE SLAM DUNK COMPETITORS

Participant, Team Pos. Ht. Wt.
Gerald Green, Boston F 6-8 200 -- The InsideHoops.com favorite to win it all
Dwight Howard, Orlando C 6-11 265 -- Could surprise but mostly a power dunker
Nate Robinson, New York G 5-9 180 -- Always root for the little guy
Tyrus Thomas, Chicago F 6-9 215 -- Largely unknown. The X-factor.

INSIDEHOOPS.COM EDITOR PREDICTS THE WINNERS

From Jeff Lenchiner, editor of InsideHoops.com: I'm going with Gerald Green. He's going to destroy this thing. Nate Robinson should come in second, Tyrus Thomas third, and Dwight Howard fourth. The reason I'm saying Howard is last is because of his size. Yeah, he can jump, but he's more of a power leaper. He can get insanely high up in the air, so I'm sure he'll surprise a few people, but the creativity factor is going to hold him back.

That's my first instinct. Be here on InsideHoops.com for complete, in-depth previews of the entire weekend and event event, plus full live coverage and the best recaps on the web.

NBA SLAM DUNK WINNERS HISTORY

Year	Location	Champion
2006	Houston	Nate Robinson, New York
2005	Denver	Josh Smith, Atlanta
2004	Los Angeles	Fred Jones, Indiana
2003	Atlanta	Jason Richardson, Golden State
2002	Philadelphia	Jason Richardson, Golden State
2001	Washington, D.C.	Desmond Mason, Seattle
2000	Oakland	Vince Carter, Toronto
1999	No competition - lockout
1998	New York	No competition
1997	Cleveland	Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers
1996	San Antonio	Brent Barry, L.A. Clippers
1995	Phoenix	Harold Miner, Miami
1994	Minneapolis	Isaiah Rider, Minnesota
1993	Salt Lake City	Harold Miner, Cleveland
1992	Orlando	Cedric Ceballos, Phoenix
1991	Charlotte	Dee Brown, Boston
1990	Miami	Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta
1989	Houston	Kenny Walker, New York
1988	Chicago	Michael Jordan, Chicago
1987	Seattle	Michael Jordan, Chicago
1986	Dallas	Spud Webb, Atlanta
1985	Indianapolis	Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta
1984	Denver	Larry Nance, Phoenix