HOUSTON, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Rising star Terrence Ross, wearing the jersey of former Toronto Raptors star Vince Carter, regained for Toronto the dunking contest champion at the All Star Slam Dunk competition here on Saturday.
"I think it's just paying homage to the guys who did this before me," said Ross. "It's a blessing to be here."
The freshmen reminded the audience about what Carter did in the 2000 classic contact in which the former icon of the Toronto City won the dunking champion.
Ross didn't show the best of himself at the very beginning. He tried four times to finish his first dunk, but he received a perfect 50-point check because of his effort. The next dunk wasn't a difficult one for the 22-year-old, but he waste no time to finish it, rewarded 49 points, one point shy of 50.
The final battle was between Ross and the defending champion Jeremy Evans of Utah Jazz. Ross did a good job in both attempts. He copied Carter's brand show in his first dunk, and then jumped over a kid, who was unveiled as Twitter CEO Dick Costolo's son Micheal Costolo, to finish his final dunk.
"My agent set that up for me," said Ross. "He found a young ballboy I could use, and I thought it would be perfect."
Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers took the three point shooting title after beating Spurs big size shooter Matt Bonner 23-20 in the close rivalry. Damian Lillard from Portland Trail Blazers snatched the first place of skill challenge.
Chris Bosh, Swin Cash and Dominique Wilkins teamed to win the Shooting Stars phase.
The West team outscored the East team 140-125 after four competition periods.
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