NBA All-Star Weekend 2012: Winners and Losers from Saturday Night's Events

Despite not being the main attraction for All-Star Weekend, All-Star Saturday Night is always the most anticipated. However, this year's events did not live up to the hype. This underperformance can mostly be credited to the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest failure. 

Nonetheless, the night did give the NBA a few classic memories. So, without further ado, here are the winners and losers from Saturday's festivities.

Winners: Allan Houston and Team New York

Team New York, composed of current Knick Landry Fields, current Liberty star Cappie Pondexter and the retired Allan Houston, destroyed the competition. To advance to the second round, Team New York put up a solid time of 38 seconds. 

The team's second round was even stronger, as they recorded a time of 37.3 seconds and took home the title in convincing fashion.

All three New York representatives showed true shooting touch, but Allan Houston was absolutely the star of the squad. Houston nailed both half-court shots.

Losers: Team Orlando

Despite receiving a loud applause from the hometown fans, Team Orlando, composed of Magic guard Jameer Nelson, three-time WNBA All-Star Marie Ferdinand-Harris and the retired sharpshooter Dennis Scott, looked horrendous, as the team was eliminated in the first round.

Most of their problems stemmed from the half-court shot. The squad missed their first seven shots from deep before Nelson connected. 

Winner: Tony Parker

After placing last in his first two times in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Parker finally took home the trophy due to an impressive run.

Even though, in his first run-through, he looked lackadaisical, the San Antonio Spurs guard put up a solid 32.8 in the finals to seal the win. 

His competition was tough, and any of those point guards could have won the challenge.

Winners: Kevin Love and Kevin Durant

Coming into the Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout, both Kevin Love and Kevin Durant were counted out due to their low three-point field-goal percentages this season and the highly competitive contestant pool in the challenge.

However, the two Kevins made it to the finals in the competition, edging out sharpshooters Ryan Anderson, Mario Chalmers, Anthony Morrow and last year's winner James Jones.

Love would go on to win the competition, putting up a solid score of 16 points in the final round.

Winner: Jeremy Evans' Second Dunk

In a competition with much left to be desired, Jeremy Evans did come through with one fantastic dunk. After a very discouraging first dunk, Evans jumped over sitting teammate Gordon Hayward and slammed in two balls for his second act.

It was a remarkable feat of leaping ability, and many consider it to be the lone memorable slam of the night.

Loser: The NBA and the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest

Due to the lack of stars and the format change, the Sprite Slam Dunk contest was, in many opinions, a pretty colossal fail. 

Sure, Jeremy Evans' second dunk was remarkable and Paul George's glow in the dark slam was creative, but the competition as a whole needs a makeover. 

The NBA's decision to change the format to no elimination rounds or judges definitely hurt the competition. I don't understand why they decided to alter a winning formula.

Plus, the use of props has gotten out-of-hand. The most amazing contestants relied solely on their verticals and creativity while in air.