Orlando Magic superstar Dwight Howard put on an amazing show for the second year in a row at the 2008 Sprite NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest. The difference from last year is that this time in New Orleans, Dwight Howard walked away as the slam dunk champion. Last year Howard jumped 12′6″ and slapped a sticker of his face on the backboard and received decent but not great scores from the historic judges panel of Michael “Air” Jordan, Dominique “Human Highlight Film” Wilkins, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Darryl “Chocolate Thunder” Dawkins, and Kobe Bryant. Howard lost and vowed to dunk on everyone for the second half of last season while his team created a little spoof video called “The Sticker Dunk Controversy” supporting the 6′11″ 270lb phenom.

This year’s skills contests actually brought back excitement to the festivities that have been losing steam over the last few years. Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams set a new record in beating 2-time defending champion Dwayne Wade in the Skills Competition. Jason Kapono of the Toronto Raptors tied Mark Price’s single round record of 25 points and successfully defended his Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout title. The all-star game itself was won by the underdog Eastern Conference and the MVP trophy went to the current face of the NBA, LeBron James who almost had a triple-double.

The slam dunk area of all-star weekend has become “yawn inspiring” over the years as the rules have changed and seemingly all dunks have been seen before. Last year Gerald Green, then of the Boston Celtics, defeated Howard and 5′9″ defending champion Nate Robinson. This year Green, now of the Minnesota Timberwolves (came over as part of the Kevin Garnett trade), completed a dunk where he placed a cupcake on the rim, lit a candle, and then slammed the ball while blowing the candle out. It wasn’t enough as Howard completed the top two dunks and others that were just out of this world. The announcers made reference that two of the dunks should be regarded as all-time “top 5″ dunks. In one, Howard threw the ball off of the back of the backboard and came around to the front in the air and dunked it. Another one he bounced the ball off the floor, tapped it with his left hand into the backboard in mid-air, and dunked it with his right.

Those amazing dunks will not be the image people will have of this contest when looking back. The lasting memory will be of former #1 overall draft pick Dwight Howard donning a cape, taking his jersey off (exposing a Superman jersey below), and flying through the air so high that he had to throw the ball down through the hoop. Dwight Howard jumps so high that he can almost literally “kiss the rim” and on this dunk he was “flying” as the announcers were saying. Dwight Howard may have revived one of the favorite parts of the NBA All-Star weekend by his amazing performance. There has never been a big man that can jump as well as Howard and some of the dunks he did, he may be the only person in the world capable of doing them. It will be interesting to see what Superman has planned for next year when he has to defend his title.

Watch the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk Contest Highlights or Dwight Howard practicing his dunks before the competition presented by Vitamin Water.

image source: www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2008-02/18/content_6462042.htm and NO that image is NOT photoshopped