VIDEO: East wins Slam Dunk Contest, Wall named Dunker of the Night

The main event did not disappoint on NBA All-Star Saturday Night, as Kendrick Lamar killed it in his live performance between the 3-Point Contest and the Slam Dunk Contest, looking fresh to death in the new Yeezy II Red Octobers.

Oh, the Slam Dunk Contest was the main event? Well, that was okay, too, kind of.

Following a new format (read more about it in the storyline below), the weekend's marquee event was a little different and the early reaction seems to be unanimous that the new structure was not a success. We got a few cool dunks, at least.

Here's how it broke down, starting with the "Freestyle Round," where each team of three dunkers had 90 seconds to throw down as many dunks as possible. The judges were Dominique Wilkins, Magic Johnson and Dr. J.

Eastern Conference
Terrence Ross, Paul George and John Wall teamed up to secure votes from all three judges. Highlights included a pair of John Wall self-alley-oops, a tic-tac-toe alley-oop that ended with a big Ross one-hander and a Ross-to-backboard-to-Wall-to-backboard-off-ground-to-George sequence for a one-handed flush.

Western Conference
Ben McLemore, Damian Lillard and Harrison Barnes teamed up for a grand total of zero votes. They started off with a series of misses, getting too creative off the start, but rebounded with some decent individual slams. The highlight may have been McLemore corralling a bad self-alley-oop to make a dunk more impressive and a Lillard between-the-legs jam.

Then in the "Battle Round," conference dunkers battled in a head-to-head, single-elimination, best-of-five team dunk-off. It was as contrived as it sounds. The East got to choose the match-ups, having won the team round. 

But first, they decided to suck the energy out of the crowd with a Vanilla Ice performance. No, seriously, they did. We won't do you the disservice of providing detail.

Anyway, on to the Battle Round where each dunker gets one dunk (and three attempts):

Match 1 - Damian Lillard v. Terrence Ross

• Lillard missed a self-alley-oop 360 but nailed it, with a pump, on the second try.
• Ross came out in a boxing robe with Drake, carrying the 2013 Slam Dunk Championship. While Drake held the ball out, Ross took it in the air to go between-the-legs. On the third try, but still nice.
• Ross defeated Lillard, two votes to one. 1-0 East.

Match 2 - Harrison Barnes v. Paul George

• Barnes tried to bring the ball to the rim and then windmill it, finally managing on the third try. That's a warm-up dunk, though, a tough choice in a single-dunk match-up.
• George tried a 360 between-the-legs but, like each dunker before him, failed at first. Then he failed again. Then he nailed it, and it was probably the second best dunk of the contest to this point
• George defeated Barnes, three votes to zero. 2-0 East.

Match 3 - Ben McLemore v. John Wall

• McLemore emerged in a king's robe, alongside Shaq and a proclaimer, who read off a scroll that "The realm of Shaqramento will henceforth be known as the realm of Shaq-Lemore." McLemore then tried to jump over Shaq sitting on a throne but, you guessed it, he missed a dunk, too. He nailed it on the second try, however, with some serious height. Shaq then put a crown on McLemore.
• Wall had the team mascot, G-Man, hold the ball over his head beneath the basket. Wall jumped over the mascot, grabbing the ball and reversing it for the dunk of the night.
• All three judges gave it to the East, giving them the 3-0 series sweep.

So, the Eastern Conference wins the Dunk Contest, technically and emphatically.

But we all know everyone wants to crown one player the Dunk Contest Champion. The NBA allowed fans to vote on a "Dunker of the Night," which will have to do.

So congratulations to John Wall, your "Slam Dunker of the Night."

Aside: The author is an enormous Dunk Contest fan who tried to remain positive ahead of Saturday night despite all indications that the new format would be terrible. The author is upset.

Keep up with all the NBA All-Star action here.