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.
No comments:
Post a Comment