For a few years Chris Bosh was one of the most underrated defenders in basketball. With his length, athleticism and mobility, Bosh was perhaps the most important piece of the aggressive Miami defense that helped propel the Heat to a NBA Championship. While Bosh has lost a few steps since that point, he still has moments where the great defender in him shines through. On Thursday night Gordon Hayward found out the great defender is still around when he decided to try to dunk Bosh.
(vine via The Cauldron)
We here at The Friendly Bounce always give props to defenders for attempting to block dunks because it just doesn’t happen often enough. With how much stronger players are in today’s game, trying to stop a player coming at you with full momentum is a really tough task that is not often pulled off.
But Bosh did everything perfectly. First he rotated over in time to be able to get airborne around the same time as Hayward. Most of the time when big men get posterized it comes because they leave the floor too late so Bosh got the tough first step down. From there he allowed his length to take over, as it allowed him to make contact with the ball before any body contact so that a foul could not be called. Then he got all ball, as the closeup replay shows, which is perhaps the most impressive part of the dunk.
All-in-all it was a magnificent play by Bosh and something that we don’t get often enough. Dunks are fun but blocked dunks are another level of fun. So keep on contesting dunks, everyone. We need more blocked ones than we get right now.