Blake Griffin Wins NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Griffin outscored Thunder forward Serge Ibaka and two others to take the crown on Saturday.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:13 pm

By: News On 6

Blake Griffin Wins NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Originally Published: Feb 19, 2011 10:20 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Clippers forward and former Sooner Blake Griffin won the 2011 Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday night playing in front of his home crowd in L.A.

Griffin started off the first round with a 360, behind-the-head double clutch that brought in a 49 from the judges.

His second dunk came off an assist from guard Baron Davis, who lobbed the ball off the side of the backboard. Griffin caught it and finished with a windmill jam, propelling him into the final round.

Thunder forward Serge Ibaka didn’t make the final round but came with two impressive dunks in the opening round.

Ibaka brought out a team of representatives from NBA Africa, representing his home country of the Congo. He took off from behind the free throw line for his dunk, gathering a score of 45.

For his second dunk, Ibaka put on more theatrics, bringing out a young actor who claimed he was missing his Rumble the Bison toy, which was attached to the rim.

Ibaka soared to the rim, grabbed the Rumble doll off the rim with his teeth and windmilled the ball home, grabbing another 45, which was not enough to get him into the final round.

To up the ante in the final round, Griffin started with an elbow dunk off of a self-lob, throwing the ball off the backboard and then sticking his entire forearm through the rim with the ball.

To finish it off, Griffin brought out a choir, which began to sing. NBA assistants rolled a new car out onto the court, which Griffin leaped over to finish an alley-oop slam.

The judges did not vote in the final round, but rather fans, who texted their votes in from home.

When Griffin won the award, he dedicated it to former OCS teammate Wilson Holloway, who lost a battle with cancer earlier in the week.