For better of for worse, Blake Griffin took home the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in front of a home crowd in Los Angeles. Griffin, with all the hype in the world on his side leading up to the event, threw together some nice dunks, but it was the pageantry involved that allowed him to sneak away from the field and take home the fan vote over Washington's JaVale McGee. In the final round, and on his final dunk, Griffin used a brand new Kia as a prop, jumping over the hood as teammate Baron Davis threw him an alley-oop.
Oh, and there was a choir singing "I Believe I Can Fly" in the background. Check the video out below. Listen closely for Charles Barkley dropping the "if she's pretty but dumb it don't matter" line.
Yep, that's a first in the dunk contest. And it was a cool dunk, especially with all the hype. But was it that great? He did jump over just the hood of the car, after all. With all the buildup, you'd think Griffin would at least pick a higher part to hop over.
At any rate, he Bieber'd (new verb for winning a fan vote) McGee and took home the dunk contest title in his first try. Overall, the contest was outstanding, and all four competitors brought it, throwing down some creative dunks. It was just what All-Star Weekend needed.
For more on the happenings from Los Angeles, check out SB Nation's dunk contest StoryStream.