Howard upstaged by tyke

A tactical error, a kind heart and a less-than-spectacular encore conspired to rob Orlando center Dwight Howard of a second straight Slam Dunk title during the recent NBA All-Star Weekend in Phoenix.

It took diminutive Nate Robinson, who stands 5-9 to Howard’s 6-11, to outshine the Magic favorite in the battle for the crown, decided by a fans vote from texting and Internet messaging.

Howard ran out of tricks in the finals after unravelling his best in the eliminations where he scored the maximum 100 points from judges Tom Chambers, Dan Majerle, Kevin Johnson (who visited Manila in 1995), Cedric Ceballos (who played for San Miguel Beer as an interim import in Game 3 of the 2003 PBA reinforced conference finals) and Larry Nance.

Unlike Howard, Robinson saved his best for the last.

In the elimination round, Howard missed his first attempt but still took a 50 with a difficult, twisting dunk from a catch of the ball from a bounce on the back of the board. Robinson tallied a 46 with a soaring tomahawk jam after picking up the ball off a bounce from the floor.

For his second dunk in the eliminations, Howard outdid himself. An 11-foot high goal was brought in and a telephone booth was set up in a dark corner of the US Airways Center. A spotlight followed Howard entering the booth and emerging with a Superman cape, reminiscent of his costume last season when he won the Slam Dunk trophy. Howard then passed the ball to teammate Jameer Nelson, standing at an angle about 10 feet from the basket. Nelson threw the ball against the backboard and Howard grabbed it in mid-air for a modest slam. That drew another 50.

Robinson wasn’t quite as spectacular. New York teammate Wilson Chandler was bent on all fours in the shaded area and Robinson planted his left foot on his back then took off for a jam. He got a 41 for the effort.

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J.R. Smith and Rudy Fernandez were booted out in the preliminaries. Fernandez, wearing a Portland No. 10 jersey to honor the late Fernando Martin (the first Spaniard to play in the NBA – there are five this season), deserved higher than his pair of 42s. The problem was in his second attempt, he converted his dunk on the eighth attempt-- an intricate maneuver where he got a pass from Pau Gasol behind the board to sneak in a one-hander.

In the finals, Robinson showed up in a brand-new uniform, a green Knicks jersey with green shoes, a green arm sleeve and a green ball. Green, of course, is the color of kryptonite which in the D. C. comic books, is the only thing capable of subduing Superman’s powers. In his first throw-down, he bounced the ball once, picked it up and double-clutched it in on the reverse. For the encore, Howard willingly obliged to be used as a prop and Robinson jumped over him to slam it in with a flourish. Robinson used his left hand on Howard’s shoulder for an extra lift and Howard bent his head down to allow for an unimpeded elevation.

Howard, in contrast, wasn’t as sensational. In his first dunk of the finals, he threw the ball against the side of the board, got it on the ricochet and jammed it in on a windmill. His finale was old hat. He ran from the other side of the floor and took off just over the free throw line for a dunk, something Michael Jordan did years ago. It was nothing creative. Howard could’ve done that in the prelims and did the 11-foot slam instead for a finale. The tactical error and his obliging nature awarded the title to Robinson whose 43-inch vertical leap is phenomenal.

Robinson took 52 percent of the fans’ vote to end Howard’s reign. The victory was well-deserved.

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In the Three-Point Shootout, Miami’s Daequan Cook was the surprise winner. He’s shooting only .411 from the three-point arc (ranking No. 39) this season with 113 makes compared to Rashard Lewis’ 147 conversions. Last year, Cook knocked down only 79-of-238 treys for a .332 clip.

Cook, 21, had absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain in the contest. The sophomore pro played without pressure although he had to bury his last four tries in the finals to force a playoff with Lewis. None of the six participants tallied at least 20 in an unimpressive, low-scoring competition.

Two-time defending champion Jason Kapono barely survived the first round by tallying 16 to join Cook (18) and Lewis (17) in the finals. He shot only one of the last five to sputter down the stretch. In the three-way finals, Lewis and Cook were tied at 15 and Kapono could’ve won his third title in a row if he only converted two of his last four balls. He would’ve clinched it with a shot in his last attempt.

In the playoff, Lewis clanged his first 11 and last four attempts to end with a whimper at seven. Cook hit seven in a row, put in three money two-point balls and sank his last shot to win it running away.

The Skills Challenge showed a lack of intensity among the four performers. They all played cautiously, without any sense of urgency. Chicago rookie Derrick Rose took the crown even if he missed a jumper and needed two attempts on the chest pass in the back turn during the finals against New Jersey’s Devin Harris who bungled three jumpers and two bounce passes. San Antonio’s Tony Parker set a new record for failure by eclipsing his old mark of 45.5 seconds as he logged 50.8 ticks in flubbing two chest passes, a bounce pass and three jumpers.

In the Shooting Stars contest, the hometown Phoenix Suns trio of Leandro Barbosa, Majerle and Tangela Smith went 5-of-5 to start the finals against Detroit then missed 23 consecutive shots from midcourt before Barbosa sank one to finish in 1:15. The Pistons trio of Aaron Afflalo, Bill Laimbeer and Katie Smith did it in 58.4 seconds with the WNBA Finals MVP knocking the clincher down from midcourt.

Tomorrow, we’ll announce the 20 winners in our All-Star contest. Please contact Babes Angat at Tel. 527-6007 for details.