PHOENIX — Call him Krypto-Nate.

Nate Robinson tugged on Superman's cape — and won.

The diminutive New York Knicks guard beat defending champion Dwight Howard of Orlando in an electrifying slam dunk contest last night, winning 52 percent of fans' votes.

Clad in an all-green Knicks uniform with green shoes, the 5-foot-9 Robinson springboarded over the 6-11 Howard to jam.

"Dwight was a great sport letting me dunk over him," said Robinson, who also won in 2006.

Robinson pitched the idea to Orlando's big man on Friday.

"I asked him yesterday in the elevator," Robinson said. "He was like, 'Hey, I'll do it.' I thought he was joking."

Howard said he was happy to help him out.

"It is all about having fun," Howard said. "Hey, he won fair and square. The fans loved it. We tried to put on a good show. That's what it is all about at All-Star weekend. It doesn't matter who wins or loses."

Howard seemed destined for another victory after scoring a perfect 50 on both of his first-round dunks.

The All-Star center performed the most theatrical dunk of the night in the opening round. He disappeared into a phone booth just off the court, emerging with a Superman cape, and waved his arms to the crowd as an 11-foot basket was wheeled onto the floor.

He then took a bounce pass from teammate Jameer Nelson and tomahawked a dunk as U.S. Airways Center exploded.

"I'm not mad or anything," Howard said. "He did a good job. I guess the shorter man will win in a dunk contest because it looks real hard for him."

Portland's Rudy Fernandez and Denver's J.R. Smith were eliminated in the first round.

Robinson could face an even tougher field if he decides to defend his title in Dallas. LeBron James tentatively placed himself into next year's contest during the television broadcast.

Earlier, Miami's Daequan Cook connected over and over again when the 3-Point Shootout went to an extra session.

When the long-distance contest went to overtime, Cook found his stroke.

The Heat guard posted the best total of the competition with 19 points in the extra round, cruising past Orlando's Rashard Lewis to win the title and end Jason Kapono's two-year run as king of one of All-Star Saturday's marquee events.

"I felt this was my opportunity to show people that I should be considered as one of the elite 3-point shooters in the game, so tonight I came out and did that," Cook said.

Mike Bibby of the Atlanta Hawks, Danny Granger of Indiana and Roger Mason of San Antonio were eliminated in the first round.

Chicago's Derrick Rose capped his Skills Challenge victory with a double-pump reverse dunk.

Rose defeated New Jersey's Devin Harris in the final round, navigating the obstacle course consisting of dribbling, passing and shooting stations in 35.3 seconds, 4.4 seconds faster than Harris.

In the H-O-R-S-E competition, Kevin Durant capped his All-Star weekend by beating O.J. Mayo and Joe Johnson.

Team Detroit — former Piston Bill Laimbeer, present Pistons guard Arron Afflalo and Detroit Shock star Katie Smith — won the Shooting Stars competition, in which players shoot from six locations of increasing difficulty.