Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star forward and Washington, D.C. product Kevin Durant has been on a tear this summer, but his OKC teammate Los Angeles native James Harden has been straight up ballin too.

Harden, who attended Artesia High School (Calif.), went head-to-head with Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and held his own. But Kobe got the last shot over Harden, hitting the game-winner at the buzzer during a Drew League game in L.A.

On Sunday night at the Long Beach Pyramid, the 6-foot-5 Harden, wearing the colors of the L.A.-based Drew League, was matched up with his good friend Durant. Others who participated in the Drew-Goodman exhibition game were Washington Wizards standouts John Wall, JaVale McGee and Nick Young, Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings, Golden State Warriors forward Dorell Wright, Houston Rockets forward Trevor Ariza, Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan, Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay, Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley and Lakers forward Matt Barnes.

For those who were keeping score at home, Team Drew featured all the L.A. boys (minus Baron Davis and Paul Pierce): Harden, Ariza, McGee, Barnes, Jennings, DeRozan, Wright and Young. Representing the Washington, D.C.-based Goodman team were Durant, Wall, Beasley, Gay. Wall dropped a game-high 55 points and Durant had 50. However, it was the L.A. boys – led by Harden’s 48 points – who prevailed in the end. For one night, L.A. hoops hold center court. Final score: Drew 151, Goodman 144.

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Blake Griffin soars over the hood of a car during the NBA Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star Saturday Night. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

JaVale McGee was robbed! Not to take anything away from Blake Griffin, who had his moments during All-Star Saturday Night, but McGee’s dunks were far more difficult than what Griffin did for the whole event. I’ll even go a step further and argue that Serge Ibaka and DeMar DeRozan had more impressive dunks than Griffin.

I know Griffin was already anointed the dunk champion even before the competition began with all the hype that surrounded him prior to All-Star Weekend, and some of the hype was deserved, but Griffin’s performance didn’t exactly put him into the top 10 of all-time dunks in my humble opinion.

However, McGee’s trick of dunking on two baskets may have cracked my top 10. It’s not Vince Carter good, but it certainly deserves a lot more credit. I mean, the man dunked on two baskets standing side by side. I bet Blake Griffin can’t do that. McGee’s degree of difficulty was far more superior than Griffin’s or anyone else in the competition.

And McGee admitted that Ibaka stole one of his dunks during the early round, which threw off his game plan (that probably explains the poor effort in his final attempt). If the dunk McGee was referring to was anything close to what he was practicing, it would have been nice. Watch the video:

Griffin’s car dunk received the most attention because it was cool, and Kenny Smith certainly persuaded the judges with his Al Sharpton moment when he brought out the choir and riled up the crowd.

Jumping over a car is good, but not great. It’s been done before. Check out YouTube and you’ll know what I mean. I bet McGee, DeRozan and Ibaka could have cleared the hood of the car as well. And besides, Griffin jumped over the hood of the car, which is not the same as jumping over the top of the car, and he didn’t exactly finish with a lot of power and flair.

DeRozan did a dunk he called “the showstopper” was more impressive than Griffin’s car dunk in which he caught a ball with one hand, ducked under the rim and slammed it on the other side in one motion. Ibaka’s behind-the-free-throw-line dunk was more impressive than Griffin’s car dunk, and even Ibaka’s teddy-bear-stuck-in-the-rim-dunk had more flair and creativity.

The dunk contest was lively and entertaining, which is what it should be. More props, more drama. However, I think the judges and the people who were voting on TV and texting were somewhat persuaded by the power of the Blake Griffin hype machine and didn’t give enough credit to the awesome creative dunks by McGee, Ibaka and DeRozan.

If I had to pick a winner, it would have been JaVale McGee. One more look at McGee’s spectacular dunk.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter at: Twitter.com/onemanfastbreak.

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The 2010 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest in Dallas didn’t quite live up to the hype, but there was history made Saturday night as Nate Robinson became the first three-time dunk champion.

Robinson, the defending champion, didn’t have to bring his “A” game because the competition failed miserably. Shakira and Alicia Keys had better performances than the slam dunk competitors. Nate “The Great” outlasted rookie DeMar DeRozan in the finals to claim his third dunk trophy. DeRozan had one real good dunk, but seem to run out of ideas once he got to the finals.

Shannon Brown and Gerald Wallace, two guys who were thought to be contenders, both fizzled in the first round and their vanilla dunks didn’t impress the judges. I think Brown and Wallace were saving their best dunks in the finals. The problem was, they didn’t make it past the first round.

For highlights of the 2010 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, click on the video link courtesy of NBA.com:

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