Creativity lives in Dunk Contest; Sir Charles runs wild

	Jameer Nelson and Dwight Howard showed creativity isn't dead in the Slam Dunk Contest. Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

LAS VEGAS -- Say this much for Saturday's All-Star Slam Dunk Contest. It was creative.

Gerald Green's "Dee Brown Tribute." Nate Robinson's "Statue of Liberty." Dwight Howard's "Sticker."

This year's Slam Dunk might not have been the greatest. It sort of flickered out at the end like a broken Vegas neon sign, thanks in large part to Robinson's decision to test the limits of the Nate Robinson Rule.

But the first round at least was fun, amusing the Thomas & Mack Center crowd of 15,000 with some highly-imaginative efforts.

While Green and Robinson made it to the finals, Howard had probably the most memorable dunk of the night. Taking a lob pass from teammate Jameer Nelson, the 6-11 Magic forward leaped high and placed a sticker on the backboard with his left hand while jamming the ball home with his right. For comic effect, Nelson then pulled out a tape measure to reveal the sticker had been placed at 12'6".

It was a creative end run around the rules for Howard, who had unsuccessfully lobbied the NBA to allow him to raise the rim to 12 feet for one of his dunks in the contest.

Green, the Celtics' 6-8 forward, dazzled the crowd by donning a Dee Brown No. 7 jersey, pumping up his sneakers and slamming over Robinson -- after first producing a cardboard cutout of the diminutive Knicks guard.

Robinson, meanwhile, paid tribute to his New York team by executing a hoops version of the Statue of Liberty play. With teammate David Lee standing under the basket with the ball over his head, the 5-foot-9 Robinson ran in, leaped, took the ball out of Lee's hand and crammed home a reverse dunk.

Who says we've seen all the dunks, and that there aren't any more new ways to put a ball through a hoop?

Thanks to Robinson, Green and Howard, the Dunk still had some funk Saturday night. As a result, it will probably get to live at least another year.

SIR CHARLES AND SEABISCUIT

Other than the Slam Dunk Contest, the highlight of the night was the footrace between Charles Barkley and 67-year-old referee Dick Bavetta.

Before the race, which consisted of three-and-a-half wind sprints back and forth on the Thomas & Mack Center court, the two combatants conducted an interview with TNT's Ernie Johnson. Introducing Barkley as "Sir Cumference", Johnson asked the 44-year-old rotund former NBA great about his trash talking in the days leading up to the race. Barkley cracked up the crowd by replying: "I have nothing against old people. I hope to be one someday."

Taking full advantage of his longer stride, the 6-7 Barkley loped down court ahead of the much smaller Bavetta. At the end he turned and backpedaled across the finish line while Bavetta, who dubbed himself "Seabiscuit" before the race, horsed around with a head-first dive on the floor.

The event raised $50,000 for charity, or as Barkley cracked as he looked over at the oversized check, "two black-jack hands' worth."