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Washington's John Wall won the Slam Dunk Contest and Italy's Marco Belinelli captured the Three-point Shoot-out in skills competitions yesterday morning (Singapore time), ahead of the 63rd NBA All-Star Game.

Before this morning's showdown between elite line-ups from the Eastern and Western Conference in New Orleans, players competed in a relaxed atmosphere for bragging rights in skills competitions.

Wall won a social media vote of viewers to capture the Slam Dunk individual trophy with an epic reverse slam dunk after leaping over his team's mascot to grab the ball.

"That dunk had never been done before," Wall said.

"A lot of people had been double pumping before but I saw the opportunity and I was able to do it."

A revamped Slam Dunk format featured knock-out matches between players from the Eastern and Western Conference, with scoring provided by judges Julius Erving, Magic Johnson and Dominique Wilkins - all retired NBA legends.

Defending champion Terrence Ross of Toronto beat Portland's Damian Lillard and Indiana's Paul George downed Golden State's Harrison Barnes.

Then Wall beat Sacramento's Ben McLemore to give East players a sweep over their rivals from the West with a dunk that earned him overall best dunker honours.

McLemore leaped over a seated Shaquille O'Neal for his dunk, but Wall responded by leaping over a standing mascot and making a reverse slam.

"That dunk is one of the best I have seen in a long time," Wilkins said.

San Antonio Spurs guard Belinelli defeated Washington guard Bardley Beal in a tie-breaker final of the Three-point Shoot-out.

Belinelli made seven of his final nine shots for 19 points in the final, then Beal sank his final six shots to equal him on 19 to force a replay tie-breaker.

Belinelli answered with 24 points, the best score in any round, by hitting eight of his last 10 shots from beyond the arc. Beal could only muster 18 points in response.

"(It was) just shooting the ball. I didn't think too much," Belinelli said.

"I was a little bit nervous at the beginning. I was focused on my job and I was so happy to win."

- AFP.

NBA