Utah’s Jeremy Evans wins Slam Dunk Contest

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) ― Utah’s Jeremy Evans won the Slam Dunk Contest at the NBA’s All-Star Saturday night festivities.

Evans, who got into the competition as a replacement for injured New York guard Iman Shumpert, earned 29 percent of 3 million text message votes cast by fans.

This was the first year that fans had total control of voting, a major tweak from past competitions.

Evans earned the win over Houston’s Chase Budinger, Indiana’s Paul George and Minnesota’s Derrick Williams.

Evans dunked with a camera on his head, dunked two basketballs while jumping over a seated assistant and then donned a Karl Malone jersey while dunking over mailman-dressed comedian Kevin Hart.

This year’s contest lasted three rounds, but the four participants had only two minutes per round to complete a single dunk.

Love beats out Durant

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) ― Minnesota forward Kevin Love won the 3-point shootout during the NBA’s All-Star Saturday festivities.

Love was consistent throughout, but had to survive a tiebreaker in the first round and sweat out the last few shots from Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant to pull out the 17-14 victory in the final.

Love tied for third in Round 1 with 18, along with Miami’s Mario Chalmers, but beat him 5-4 in a tiebreaker. Defending champion James Jones led all shooters in the opening round with 22 and Durant was next with 20.

Orlando’s Ryan Anderson just missed eliminating both Love and Chalmers, totaling 17 after missing his final 2-point money ball.

Love and Durant both had 16 in Round 2 to advance to the finals, with Jones posting 12.

San Antonio point guard Tony Parker won the Skills Competition.