Photo gallery of the RJ Barrett dunk, Zion celebration that broke the internet

Words cannot describe the scene we witnessed when Zion Willamson was celebrating RJ Barrett’s gravity-defying dunk. Only photos can.

There comes a time when words don’t do justice what is witnessed when time stands still.

That’s the gift photographs can give us. Instead of picturing the full grasp of a moment in our minds, we can sit and stare at a moment that seems frozen in time, preserved to be admired and celebrated for generations to come.

That moment happened on Friday night when Duke’s RJ Barrett soared to the heavens, backward, and threw down a two-handed monster dunk that twisted the knife already stabbed in the hearts of the North Dakota State Bison.

Barrett’s time-stopping dunk, alone, would have been worthy of its own celebratory moment, but what made this moment even more special was when Zion Williamson, the super-freshman that is not of our planet, was beside himself when he saw his teammate take to the sky.

It was a moment that, for many, would be engrained in the minds and hearts of all those who witnessed this spectacular moment.

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1109253179298873344

Yes, there was video, but not even moving pictures can move a moment so profoundly as still pictures can. So, as a gift from the sports heavens, here’s a photo gallery of two teammates who have commanded the college basketball spotlight, celebrating and embracing the moment of being blessed to play the sport we affectionately call “basketball.”

It’s a photo journey of kids being kids, of kids celebrating each other’s accomplishments, of kids enjoying the journey that they long looked toward when they were playing pick-up basketball on the playground blacktop, and have translated that youthful exuberance to the grand stage of amateur athletics, the NCAA Tournament.

This is basketball in its joyous and purest form.

Sit back, and enjoy.

Hang these in a museum.