NBA SHOWCASES ITS HIGH ACHIEVERS

Miami Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. celebrated his 23rd birthday by winning the All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, edging Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon in a memorable showdown that required two tiebreaker jams.

Jones and Gordon each got a perfect 50 on both of their dunks in the final. Then they got two more perfect scores on their first jam in the dunk-off.

Jones then took off from just inside the foul line and threw down a windmill jam with his left hand, drawing a 48 from the panel of five judges.

After a short discussion with Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, Gordon brought out 7-foot-5 Boston Celtics rookie Tacko Fall and positioned him near the basket. He then took the ball from Fall's hands on his way to a thunderous dunk.

The United Center crowd gasped as the courtside NBA stars celebrated. But Gordon was awarded a 47, giving the victory to Jones.

Gordon also lost a memorable dunk contest to Zach LaVine in 2016.

In the NBA 3-Point Contest, Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield made a late surge to win the trophy.

Hield nailed a two-point money ball from the corner to finish with 27 points, edging Phoenix Suns All-Star Devin Booker by one in the final round.

Hield is one of the few bright spots for the struggling Kings this season, averaging 20.4 points while shooting about 39 percent from 3-point range.

Five racks with five balls each were set up around the perimeter－two in the corner, two on the wings and one up top. Four of those racks had four balls worth one point each plus a multicolored two-point ball. The other had nothing but money balls.

There were also two green balls worth three points set up six feet behind the 3-point line.

Miami's Bam Adebayo won the All-Star skills challenge. Adebayo narrowly defeated Indiana's Domantas Sabonis in the final in a matchup of All-Star big men.