Los Angeles Clippers' Blake Griffin jumps over a car while competing in the slam dunk contest during the NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles (Reuters)

Blake Griffin was favored even before the Sprite NBA Slam Dunk contest underway and he showed everyone why.

Undoubtedly the best rookie in the NBA today, Blake Griffin expectedly reached the finals, delivering dunks that drew approval and cheers from the sellout crowd present at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

In this year’s finals, Griffin of the LA Clippers was joined by Washington Wizard’s Javale McGee. Both players were given 2 dunks in the final round.

Griffin started out the final round with a lob to the backboard and dunking the ball all the way including his forearm. The dunk was similar to what then Toronto Raptor Vince Carter did only that the ball was passed to him and not lobbed like what Griffin did.

But in what has to be one of the unique dunks that NBA fans have seen so far, Griffin used a car, the Crenshaw Elite Choir for some spiritual guidance of sorts and teammate Baron Davis who was in the car for his final dunk.

With the choir singing “I Believe I Can Fly”, Davis came out of the sunroof portion of the Kia Optima and passed the ball alley-hoop style to a flying Blake Griffin in what had to be the clincher.

Javale McGee made an impressive dunk in the first round with a one handed windmill dunk from along the baseline. But after the electrifying dunk that Griffin made in the second round, it seemed that McGee couldn’t find a suitable dunk to match it, missing in two attempts before settling on an pass to the backboard and slamming it in.

Griffin won the contest when he got 68% of the fan votes, becoming the 2011 Sprite NBA Slam Dunk Champion.

Serge Ibaka (Chicago Bulls) and Demar DeRozan (Washington Wizards) made impressive dunks as well but unfortunately did not make it to the final round.

In the other events, Golden State's Stephon Curry won the Taco Bell Skills Challenge while the Miami Heat's James Jones bagged the Foot Locker Three Point Contest.

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LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Paying homage to a close friend who died this week, Blake Griffin dunked over a car to win the 2011 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk competition over Washington's JaVale McGee.

"I dedicate this to my best friend who passed away Wednesday," said Griffin speaking to the crowd from centre court of Staples Center arena. "He would be watching me here so I wanted to dedicate this to him."

Griffin's former high school basketball friend Wilson Holloway died three days ago after a battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Griffin's emotional tribute was the only serious moment in a light-hearted evening of festivities which featured a shooting competition, skills challenge, three-point contest before culminating with the Slam Dunk Contest.

Los Angeles Clippers rookie forward Griffin's final show-stopping dunk earned him 68 percent of the fan votes to beat McGee who finished with 32 percent.

The evening featured perfect scores, 360s, windmill dunks as the competitors came prepared with choreographed stunts, props and even a gospel choir that serenaded Griffin on his final dunk.

Griffin soared over the hood of a Kia car as teammate Baron Davis popped through the sunroof and passed him the ball. Griffin then slammed the ball through the rim in one motion while the choir sang R. Kelly's 1996 hit 'I Believe I Can Fly' from the movie Space Jam.

Griffin, who leads the NBA this year with 137 dunks, said he wanted to do something original and special for his friend.

"Everybody wants you to do things that are impossible. They are like 'do between your legs twice'. Obviously I can't do that," said Griffin who will also play in Sunday's 2011 all-star game.

"Most of the stuff that is possible has already been done."

Try telling that to McGee who got into the final with some brilliant moves in the first round.

McGee's final dunk in the preliminary round was a leaping attack on the rim where he slammed three-consecutive balls through the hoop.

He was gracious in defeat saying the better man had won.

"He (Griffin) came prepared with the car," McGee said of Griffin. "Nothing is going to beat the car unless I bring a plane out or something."

No plane, just yet, but several dunkers did bring props. There was side-by-side backboards, a Teddy bear and another had flash cards made up with the names of the dunks like the "Show Stopper" and the "East Bay Funk Remix".

McGee posted a perfect score from the judges on the most suspenseful dunk of the evening. He brought out another backboard and dunked on both rims at the same time.

The competitors had two minutes to complete each dunk and after a half dozen misses, McGee brought the crowd out of their seats by making it with just 13 seconds left on the time clock.

Miami Heat's James Jones won the three-point shooting contest by beating Boston Celtic teammates Ray Allen and Paul Pierce in the final round.

"There was no pressure because I was the first shooter," Jones said. "Everyone knows that 95 percent of my shots are threes. I went too fast in the first round so I tried to slow it down in the second round and follow through a lot."

Golden State's Stephen Curry beat Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook to win the Skills Challenge, and a three-person team from Atlanta won the Shooting Stars competition.

In case you missed it, you can watch the video here.