Glenn Robinson soars to dunk title as Indiana dominates All-Star Weekend

What a day for Indiana basketball.

From the NBA down to the D-League, players with Indiana ties were flashing their skills all over New Orleans on Saturday during the NBA All-Star weekend.

But let's start with the show-stealing Glenn Robinson III, the Gary native and Indiana Pacer who blew away his competition to win the 2017 All-Star Slam Dunk Contest.

Robinson beat Derrick Jones Jr. of the Phoenix Suns in the final round. Robinson clinched the win with a perfect 50 on the final dunk of the night — going over three people for a reverse dunk and nearly touching his head on the rim in the process.

Robinson and Jones embraced when it was over, and Robinson went over to shake hands with judges.

“This is just the beginning for me,” Robinson said.

Robinson started with a dunk where he leaped over Indiana teammate Paul George, grabbing the ball from the All-Star before his slam that merited 44 points.

Jones failed to go over three people — or rather, one man, one Suns dancer and Suns’ mascot The Gorilla — and get a dunk down in his first attempt of the finals, yet got 37 points. His second attempt, an off-the-bounce, between-the-legs slam, was a perfect 50.

DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers and Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic were eliminated in the first round. Gordon finished second to Minnesota’s Zach LaVine in last year’s contest.

Earlier in the night, North Central alum and 2007 IndyStar Indiana Mr. Basketball Eric Gordon dethroned Golden State splash brother Klay Thompson as the NBA All-Star 3-point contest champion.

And he did it in New Orleans, where he played the previous five seasons before leaving last summer in free agency.

Gordon’s score of 21 in a final-round tie-breaker defeated Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving, the 2013 winner who had 18. The pair had each finished with a score of 20 in the final round, meaning they each had to shoot 25 more balls to decide it.

Thompson was stunningly eliminated in the first round, missing a final shot from the corner that could have put him through ahead of Walker.

Earlier in the evening, Brownsburg graduate and former Butler star Gordon Hayward finished second in the skills competition.  

New York Knicks 7-foot-3 forward Kristaps Prozingis won it, beating Hayward in the finals.

Those vanquished in earlier rounds included guards John Wall of Washington and Isaiah Thomas of Boston, both because they couldn’t make their initial 3-pointers required to close out the course before Hayward did.

Porzingis emerged from the big-men’s division that included the Pelicans’ Anthony Davis and Denver’s Nikola Jokic.

Porzingis and Hayward were neck and neck until the end of the course, but Porzingis hit his 3 first to end it.

The three-round, obstacle-course competition tests dribbling, passing, agility and shooting skills.

D-League

Former IU star Troy Williams was crowned dunk champion of the NBA Developmental League on Saturday.

Williams, who plays for Memphis Grizzlies affiliate Iowa Energy, scored a perfect 50 on his semifinal dunk to advance to the final. Here's the dunk:

And here's one of his contest-winning jams:

Indiana fared well in 3-point contest as well with Marion High School graduate Scott Wood took home the top prize.

Wood plays for Golden State Warriors affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors.