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. 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I think thats the best thing that could have happened after a loss like that, is to have this type of game where all of your attention has to be focused on the 49ers going forward.Its quite understandable that the Raiders dont want to look back at Sundays game for too long. They did watch the film and make the necessary corrections. There were quite a few after the teams worst loss since falling 55-0 to Houston in the opener of the 1961 season — two years before Al Davis first joined the franchise.The defence allowed Shaun Hill to lead St. Louis to five touchdowns on the opening five drives of the game as Oakland (1-11) had no answer for the Rams speed on the outside with Tre Mason, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey.The offence didnt generate a first down until the deficit was 21-0, turned the ball over a season-high five times and converted just 4 of 18 third-down attempts.That led to rookie Derek Carr getting pulled in the fourth quarter after going 24 for 39 for 173 yards and two interceptions for a season-low 50.5 quarterback rating.There was just no need to keep Derek out there at that point any longer, interim coach Tony Sparano said.Matt Schaub took over andd committed two turnovers, including an interception that was returned for a touchdown by Trumaine Johnson.ddddddddddddSchaub lost his starting job in Houston last year after setting an NFL record by having an interception returned for a TD in four straight games.It all added up to quite a step back after the Raiders finally broke through with their first win of the season 10 days earlier in a 24-20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.It is unacceptable, receiver James Jones said. Were all pros in there. Everybody has to hold themselves accountable, and that was unacceptable to go out there and put that type of game on film after a big win.Tuck said some players might have basked in the first win a bit too long but expects they have learned their lesson about turning over a new page each week.Sparano doesnt expect that to be an issue when the team begins practicing for San Francisco on Wednesday.This teams always been great about bouncing back and theyre really good about being resilient and theyre really willing, he said. Thats one of the things I love the most about this group, is their will to kind of fight back. I dont anticipate that being a problem this week, but we will get work in.NOTES: Sparano said he was hopeful RB Latavius Murray would be back this week after missing Sundays game with a concussion. ... Sparano said he was concerned about the health of TE Brian Leonhardt, who has been knocked out of the past two games with concussions. ... 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