In defense of Jordan Bell and stunting on fools

Jordan Bell did a thing that really upset the Mavericks — he dunked in an NBA game. Imagine the audacity!

He slammed home a dunk to himself off the backboard on a fast break as though this is the highest level of competitive basketball in the world. It’s not like Bell needs to prove himself or anything at this level, anyway.

Oh, wait. This is the highest level of competitive basketball in the world and Bell, as a second round draft pick traded for literally cash considerations and nothing more, does have quite a bit to prove. Well, he has less to prove after unleashing this beaut of a slam all over the Mavericks:

As shown in the clip, the Warriors’ bench was pretty excited about the dunk. Or, rather, the players on the Warriors’ bench. Apparently, Steve Kerr tried to apologize for his rook nearly atomizing the American Airlines Center.

My only question is, why? Why apologize for that play? Yes, the game was out of hand, as the Warriors led by 25 with less than three minutes left, but unless Adam Silver instituted a mercy rule we didn’t know about, the game wasn’t over.

Read More: Fastest firings for NBA coaches

And it’s not like this was Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry throwing up 3s to try to push the lead to 40 points. This is Jordan Bell, the guy 30 teams passed on (some more than once) until he got snatched by the Warriors with their purchased second round pick. He’s made nine shots in his career. How can you fault him for wanting to play hard in the scant minutes he gets?

It shouldn’t even be problematic if Durant and Curry were still out there, aside from the wasted opportunity to rest those guys. This is not a rec league — it’s the NBA. If you don’t want to get stunted on, don’t get blown out. Trash talk doesn’t mean a thing if it’s from the losing team.

On the same note, if you don’t want an opponent to toss the ball off the backboard and dunk on you, don’t let them. Outspoken trash-talker Draymond Green is able to talk trash because he backs it up, like earlier in the game when he prevented Dennis Smith Jr. from dunking on him.

A dunk that would have been awesome if completed, even if the Mavericks were up by 30. Leave unwritten rules to sports like baseball. Even better, do like LeBron James said when asked about this very incident. If you don’t like it, don’t let it happen.

"Listen, we’re all men. Stop me from dunking. We’re not trying to hurt nobody. Trying to play hard until the final buzzer. Would it have been OK if he had laid the ball up? Get mad because he threw it off the glass and caught it? Would he have been mad if he threw it off the glass and missed it? There wouldn’t have been no conversation. So, you play the game until it’s over. Yeah he threw it off the glass, dunked it, so what?"

Stunting is great and should be part of basketball. The NBA has a different feel than most other American sports leagues because the players get to be themselves. For Bell, that equates to monster dunks that take over the internet for a little while.

Next: Ben Simmons is already making passes like a veteran PG

If that’s not part of NBA basketball, then I don’t want to know what is. Rick Carlisle and the Mavericks should be upset — at themselves, for getting dunked on both literally and metaphorically.