Smith pays homage to Wilkins in victory

DENVER – Josh Smith went retro to win the NBA’s dunk contest.

Smith scored a 50 on his first dunk of the finals wearing the jersey of former Atlanta star Dominique Wilkins, then had another perfect score on his second dunk in his own Hawks jersey to beat Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire on Saturday night.

“(Wilkins) didn’t know I was going to do that, but I was going to do a dunk symbolizing what he did in his previous years,” said Smith, Atlanta’s first-round pick in 2004 after making the jump from high school. “He was real excited and shocked that I would do that.”

Wilkins, a two-time dunk champion, handed over the mantel and his jersey just before Smith’s first dunk of the final round, and the rookie didn’t disappoint. Looking a whole lot like ‘Nique – other than being left-handed – Smith leaned in for a windmill dunk that left the backboard and rim shaking and earned him a perfect score.

Smith switched back to his No. 5 Hawks jersey and earned another 50 off a reverse-spin 360 – a la Vince Carter at the 2000 dunk contest in Oakland, Calif.

“I think the whole jersey thing kind of made everybody a little nervous,” said Wilkins, who won the dunk contest in 1985 and 1990. “Like I said, he shocked me with that one. That was outstanding.”

But it wasn’t the only outstanding part.

Although former Nuggets player Chris Andersen drew some boos after needing eight tries to finish his first dunk, Smith and Stoudemire got the crowd going with their second dunks of the first round.

Smith started things off, earning a 50 by taking a pass from Denver’s Kenyon Martin, who was seated in a chair, and throwing it down with a vicious windmill dunk after soaring over Martin.

Stoudemire did him one better on the next dunk, passing the ball off the backboard to Phoenix teammate Steve Nash, who headed the ball back to Stoudemire for a one-handed 360 dunk.

“That was a good dunk by Amare and Steve, and I knew I had to pull something out of my hat to get by and win,” Smith said.

Smith did and it prevented the Suns from completing a sweep on All-Star Saturday.

Phoenix’s Quentin Richardson won the 3-point shooting contest, making his final nine shots of the finals after opening with an airball to edge Philadelphia’s Kyle Korver by one point.

Richardson appeared to have no chance at catching Korver after missing his first four shots, but he hit four of five money balls – worth two points each – and had the strong finish to close with 19 points.