Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Best Dunks of the NBA Season


By Stephen Barston

The dunk may be one of the most exciting plays in all of sports. The sheer difficulty level alone makes it impressive, but when an unsuspecting defender gets put on a poster, it’s even better. As this NBA season draws to a close, we celebrate the year that has been jam-packed with nasty jams… here are some of my favorites (in no particular order):
Absolutely incredible. Consider the fact that this man is one year removed from heart surgery and can still dunk all over perennial All-Star Chris Bosh; meanwhile, you and I can barely grab the net and pull ourselves up (if we’re lucky). By the way, you’ll probably be seeing a lot of Jeff Green on this list.
I feel terrible for Al Jefferson here. When he sees Green going up, he tries to duck down and make sure he doesn’t make the highlight reel for all the wrong reasons. Jeff Green has none of it and makes sure every fan sitting at home feels the same embarrassment Al Jefferson just felt.
Not going to lie, I had no idea who Byron Mullens was before I saw this dunk. Honestly though, who cares? DID YOU SEE THAT DUNK? The rebound off the jumper turns into the full-speed slam on top of the innocent LaMarcus Aldridge (who was just trying to take a charge); it’s simply incredible.
Timofey Mozgov is honestly hoping that something like this never, ever happens again. Why can’t we respect him already? The man has been through enough in his NBA career, so why don’t we just get off his back. No matter what, DeMar Derozan is a straight-up beast. His mind was on the basket the entire time and he didn’t even think twice about stuffing it right on top of Mozgov. I wish I could do that.
As incredible as this Blake Griffin dunk is, I honestly give most of the credit to Jamal Crawford here.  Through the legs, over the head, without looking… he prepared the toast and Blake applied the jam! Lob City remains the best team for dunks in the league, and this is the proof right here.
Nikola Pekovic—why would you step in the way of a man running full-speed down the lane, ready to put you on a poster (ahem)? Harrison Barnes saw the open path to the basket on this back-door cut, and took it from there. Enough said.
Jason Terry was pronounced dead at the scene. Plus, during the game, I’m almost positive that #RIPJasonTerry was trending on Twitter. The buildup to this dunk was tantalizing: no-look pass after no-look pass, Jason Terry tracking back and forth, never suspecting that the King would simply fly over him and throw down. Our prayers go out to the Terry family at this time.
So with this dunk, the word “knighted” officially became a basketball term. I think we all associate the high-flying Lob City with Blake Griffin, but with this jam, DeAndre Jordan made himself a contender for best dunker on the Clippers. The way he simply bumped Brandon Knight out of the way and the ferocity of the alley-oop—just amazing.

Caption: DeAndre Jordan shows us his dunkface

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