Blake Griffin wins 2011 Slam Dunk Contest

Blake Griffin lived up to all the hype last night in Los Angeles. The hometown favorite took home the prize after one of the best dunk contest fans have seen for quite some time.

Griffin beat Javale McGee in the final round. Griffin's dunks consisted of an alley-oop off the backboard and finished with his elbow in the rim. He also jumped over a Kia Optima with a choir singing in his final dunk.

It might have been the best overall dunk contest I've ever seen. Serge Ibaka and DeMar DeRozen were knocked out in the first round.

Ibaka had a very strong showing. His free-throw line dunk was actually from the free-throw line. He took off BEHIND the line and finished the dunk. However, he was only awarded a 45 in which I thought was very low. He also bit a stuff animal and dunked the ball in his second dunk, good for a score of 90.

For DeRozen's first dunk, he went in-between his legs from and alley-oop of the backboard extension and he also did a sick one-handed reverse cradle slam good for a solid score of 94 total points.

However, it was Javale McGee's night to compete in the final round. McGee probably had the most creative dunks. His first dunk he used two basketball hoops and dunked one ball in each hoop, including an alley-oop as well.

McGee then decided to not only dunk two balls but he then went on to dunk three balls. His final score was good for a 99.

Overall it was probably one of the best showings from all four contestants and Ibaka (who finished last) probably would have won last year with his dunks. That was how good 2011 was and how the hype has returned.

The NBA All-Star game is on tonight on TNT at 8:30pm.