NEW ORLEANS - Shortly after hoisting his second Slam Dunk trophy, this one hell have to share, Terrence Ross was stunned to hear that the contests format change was not especially well received. "It was one of the best shows ever," said the Raptors guard, disagreeing with the critics. "Its really what people wanted to see. You couldnt see those dunks without three players on the court so it worked out for the best I think." The Slam Dunk Contest - the pride and joy of All-Star Saturday Night - adopted a team concept this year, pitting the three participants from the East against the Wests trio in a two-round showcase. It was, for all intents and purposes, a bust. In the final round, a head-to-head session, the team from the East - consisting of Ross, John Wall and Paul George - defeated the West in a clean sweep. It was an unorthodox victory for Ross, who only threw down one dunk, outside of the initial freestyle round. "Hey, a wins a win," the sophomore said, elated after the competition came to an end, not unlike most in attendance and watching from home. "Im gonna take it either way. Ive never lost a dunk contest at this point so Im happy." The real champion, assuming anyone can really be considered a winner after that performance, was John Wall, who was awarded the fan vote for Dunker of the Night. Wall capped off an anticlimactic evening with the only real jaw-dropping dunk, leaping over Wizards mascot G-Man, taking the ball out of his hands and completing a two-hand reverse jam to seal the Easts victory. Off the top, each team had 90 seconds to work together and complete as many dunks as they could. The team dynamic, allowed the dunkers to collaborate and be creative in their attempts. Ross and the East took advantage, while the West - with Damian Lillard, Harrison Barnes and Ben McLemore - ate up nearly a third of their allotted time before converting a notable slam. To call it organized chaos would be putting it mildly. Mostly, it was a disjointed mess with an occasional highlight, a couple from Ross, who put down a reverse to open the contest. The battle round had promise but lacked any semblance of rhythm or flow, as actual dunks were few and far between. Just as it started to come around, it ended abruptly. Lillard led off the proceedings - competing in his third event of the night - facing Ross, who brought along a friend and colleague for assistance. With last years trophy in hand, Raptors global ambassador Drake accompanied Ross on the floor to the tune of Started from the Bottom. Ross, wearing a boxing robe as he entered, would miss his first two attempts before eventually taking the ball from Drake, putting it through his legs and throwing it down with the opposite hand. As it turns out, Drake was a late substitution for Ross teammate and original assistant. "At first I knew the dunk I wanted to do and then I was like, DeMar (DeRozan) is going to do it," said the Raptors sophomore. "And then I was like, let me ask Drake because that would be a little better fit with him being the global ambassador, so I said that might work. I had fun with it, he was willing to help in any way he could." In the end, Ross was happy with the format change and embraced the chance to team up rather than go at it alone. "We got to throw off the shot clock, the backboard, bounce it off the ground," he said. "It was fun, everybody loved it." Ross maintained the team concept allows participants to be more creative, giving each of them a greater opportunity to come up and execute something new. For that reason, he believes the format should be here to stay. "It was fun, just coming up with certain things. I was trying to see if we could throw it off the jumbotron and see if we could do something like that but they said that would probably break it." Format changes encapsulated the entire night, certainly not what the league was going for. The Skills Challenge also had participants competing in teams for the first time. DeRozan - who was paired with Bucks rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo - more than held his own, sinking the chest pass on his first attempts and nailing the jump shot from the top of the key in two tries. His partner needed three tries to complete the pass and as a result, they were eliminated in the opening round, bested by Michael Carter-Williams and Victor Oladipo by 1.7 seconds. That pair would go on to lose to Lillard and Trey Burke by a tenth of a second in the finals. Former Raptor Marco Belinelli, the eventual winner of the Three-Point Contest, would not have made it past the first round if not for a new twist which allowed for one entire rack filled with money balls. He went on to defeat Wizards guard Bradley Beal in a tie-breaking round. Craig Biggio Jersey . Jose Bautista homered for the fifth straight game in the sixth inning, following a two-out solo homer by Melky Cabrera. Edwin Encarnacion led off the seventh with a homer to tie the game 3-3 and, with two out in the seventh, Munenori Kawasaki came through with the two-out single to score pinch-runner Steve Tolleson with what proved to be the winning run. Roy Oswalt Jersey . - A pitch clock will be used this season during minor league games at Triple-A and Double-A, but it has been ruled out for the major leagues this year. http://www.baseballastrosproshop.com/jef...-astros-jersey/. The Force had two men, including former Wallabies No. 8 Ben McCalman, in the sin-bin in the dying minutes of the match, but were able to resist a late Highlanders surge to post a four-try, bonus point win. Andy Pettitte Jersey . -- Valentin Zykov scored in overtime as the Baie-Comeau Drakkar rallied to a 3-2 victory over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Sunday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action. J. R. Richard Jersey . TSN Hockey Insiders Pierre LeBrun and Bob McKenzie both reported Thursday that there have been ongoing trade discussions between the Oilers and Los Angeles Kings over forward Sam Gagner.ANAHEIM - J.A. Happ takes the mound opposite Jered Weaver on Monday night when the Toronto Blue Jays pay a visit to Angel Stadium to begin a three-game series. Happ has been solid since getting roughed up for seven runs in four innings at Cincinnati on June 21. He tossed 7 2/3 shutout frames against the Chicago White Sox while striking out eight in his next start. Most recently, Happ gave up four runs on six hits over seven innings while striking out four and walking nobody against Milwaukee on Wednesday. Weaver, after giving up just one earned run in each of his previous two starts, was tagged for five runs on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday. Once again, the long ball hurt Weaver as he gave up two home runs to run his seasons total to 16 allowed. Prior to his last start, Weaver had gone 17 straight innings without giving up a homer. "I just left a couple pitches up, and those guys put it where they should," Weaver said. L.A. has won 10 straight at home and 15 of its last 16 overall at Angel Stadium. The Halos concluded a four-game home sweep of the Houston Astros following Sundays 6-1 victory. Starter Garrett Richards struck out a career-high 11 while pitching 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball to improve to 10-2 on the season. Koole Calhoun homered and went 3-for-3, while Albert Pujols was 2-for-3 including a two-run single.dddddddddddd The Blue Jays are trying to avoid a season-worst fifth straight loss, although they will have to do so without All-Star slugger Edwin Encarnacion, who is expected to miss at least two weeks with a strained right quadriceps that he injured during Saturdays 5-1 loss at Oakland. Encarnacion is second in the majors in both home runs (26) and RBI (70). "It hurts us not having him on the team," said outfielder and fellow All-Star Jose Bautista. "The No. 1 priority is to get him better." Toronto, which leads the majors with 114 homers on the season, lost each game of a four-game set at Oakland as the offense went 0-for-20 with runners in scoring position. It was more of the same for the teams suddenly lackluster offense during Sundays 4-2 loss, which dropped the team two games behind Baltimore in the AL East standings. The Blue Jays held a one-game lead atop the division entering the series against the Athletics. "We got shut down big time," manager John Gibbons said. "Were just not very good right now. Were just not producing." The Angels won three of four when these teams met up at Rogers Centre from May 9-12. 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