30 best NBA poster dunks of all time

11. Vince Carter over Dikembe Mutombo

Vince Carter gave Dikembe Mutombo a brief stare down after dunking on one of the greatest shot blockers in the world, then just ran back on defense. All business, no celebration, no games.

You see, dunking is what Vince Carter did for a living, everyone else on the floor plays basketball and had the occasional opportunity to dunk. We tried to tell you that two-footed baseline dunks were something special, and you have to look no further than Tracy McGrady’s immediate reaction to understand what they can do to the viewer in the moment.

T-Mac, no stranger to mid-air baptisms, was damn near beside himself as Carter angrily ran back on defense as if his work just wasn’t quite up to his own standards. Carter was interviewed about the dunk years later and you just have to see the smug smirk in the middle of describing what transpired.

“Once I hit him I just felt like I kept going higher and higher. When he was on his way down I was still on my way up,” Carter said with that smug smirk. “I got ‘em.”

Carter would admit in the same interview that, “for that one dunk, he probably blocked my dunks five or six times before that.” That’s the thing with all-time great dunkers, though. They’re eventually going to get you.