Sam Dekker drops Enes Kanter with dunk, stares him down afterward (Video)

Enes Kanter tried to play defense for once, and Sam Dekker of the Houston Rockets literally dropped him with a monster dunk.

Enes Kanter has long been known as one of the worst interior defenders in the NBA, and if this is what he gets for actually trying, the 6’11” Turkish big may be content to just concede easy baskets from now on.

In Friday night’s prime-time matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets, the main storyline was a showdown between two legitimate MVP candidates/former OKC teammates, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.

Westbrook was carrying his six-game triple-double streak into the matchup at Chesapeake Energy Arena, while Harden has led one of the NBA’s most potent offenses and pleasant surprises with his 28.5 points, 11.4 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game.

The big play of the first half, however, went to a one-on-one transition showdown between two reserves, Sam Dekker of the Rockets and Kanter of the Thunder.

With the score knotted at 19 late in the first quarter, Patrick Beverley found Dekker on the wing in transition. Kanter did what he could to protect his team’s basket, but the athletic Dekker handily won the exchange, dunking the ball so hard he dropped Kanter to the floor.

In perfectly awesome Sam Dekker fashion, he even hit him with a staredown while Kanter was still on the ground trying to figure out where his life had gone so horribly wrong:

After being taken by the Rockets with the 18th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, Dekker’s rookie season was limited to just three games due to a back injury.

So far this season, however, he’s been a solid part of Mike D’Antoni’s rotation, averaging 6.7 points and 3.9 rebounds in 18.6 minutes per game off the bench in 22 appearances. He’s also shot a stellar 50.4 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from three-point range.

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With Dekker and fellow 2015 draft selection Montrezl Harrell starting to come into their own, plus Donatas Motiejunas finally agreeing to a deal to return to the Rockets earlier on Friday, the sky is the limit for this surprisingly strong Rockets team.