Los Angeles  - Nate Robinson had the kryptonite to conquer Dwight Howard's Superman.

Dressed in green and using Howard as a hurdle, Robinson reclaimed the Slam Dunk Contest title Saturday night, edging the defending champion in fan balloting to cap All-Star Saturday Night at Phoenix.

An otherwise lackluster night had a terrific finish, with Howard reprising his "Superman" dunking persona and Robinson overcoming him - figuratively and literally.

Los Angeles  - Kevin Durant was red-hot, and his opponents couldn't put out the fire.

The Oklahoma City player poured in 30 of his Rookie Challenge-record 46 points in the second half, leading the sophomores to their seventh-straight victory over the first-year stars 122-116 Friday night as the NBA's All-Star Weekend tipped off in Phoenix, Arizona.

Los Angeles  - With the NBA trade deadline approaching next Thursday, the Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors tipped off what expects to be a busy week for players finding new homes.

The Heat acquired forwards Jermaine O'Neal and Jamario Moon on Friday in exchange for forward Shawn Marion and guard Marcus Banks.

Los Angeles  - Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce won major honours at the NAACP Image Awards Thursday night, where The Secret Life of Bees was named best picture.

But both Rihanna and Chris Brown stayed away from the most prestigious African-American awards show of the year, which took place less less than a week after Brown,
19, was arrested for making criminal threats against Rihanna, 20.

Los Angeles  - Kevin

Los Angeles - The Utah Jazz showed they're a pretty tough team to beat even without two of their top players.

Deron Williams had 31 points with 11 assists, Mehmet Okur scored 22, including the go-ahead three-pointer with 42.8 seconds left and the Jazz snapped the Los Angeles Lakers' seven-game winning streak with a thrilling 113-109 victory on Wednesday night.

"It's a great win for us going into the All-Star break, it's a confidence builder," Williams said. "It just shows that we're a good team despite all the injuries. It just proves we can win against the best teams in the league and we showed that tonight."