Ranking our favorites from the dunkiest night of the NBA season
By Ian Levy
New Year’s Day randomly turned out to be the dunkiest night of the NBA season so far. We ranked our five favorites.
An 82-game season can be a grind but the steady march of basketball means plenty of opportunities for lightning to strike. For example, last night when Anthony Davis dunked his way through Aron Baynes and Jarrett Culver put Robin Lopez in a fighting mood. Here are our five favorites from a random Wednesday night that turned into an impromptu disrespectful dunk competition.
5. LeBron’s lob and breakaway pump
These two dunks stand out for amplitude but ultimately don’t hold up next to the carnage to come. Davis’ reverse-alley-oop is creative but
makes sure to get himself out of the poster. LeBron could have taken his foot off the pedal and let
work himself back into the play as an obstacle to be dunked over, but he goes for big air and the side pump instead.
4. Mitchell Robinson‘s go-go-gadget arms
I’ve watched this at least a dozen times and I still can’t tell how Robinson actually gets the ball through the hoop. It’s an overly aggressive pass by Randle, saved by Robinson’s absurd length and leaping-ability. But
comes through on the baseline just as Robinson redirects, creating the illusion of a ripple in the space-time continuum, some omnipotent alien lifeforce reaching into our dimension and nudging a turnover into a highlight dunk.
3. Kelly Oubre Jr. climbs Mt. McGee
This is a shocking act of violence played out in slow motion. As soon as Oubre Jr. gets the rebound and turns to look up court you can almost see him focus in on McGree, targeting him for posterization. It’s like he starts visualizing the dunk at his own 3-point line and uses the next 60 feet or so to slowly manipulate all the pieces into position. Check. Mate. Flex.
2. Anthony Davis treats Aron Baynes like a piece of meat
The proper way to celebrate a dunk like this is gulping mead from a hollow ram horn and gnawing your way through a charred leg of venison.
1. Jarrett Culver treats Robin Lopez like a mascot
The dunk here is sensational, especially the little extra bit of rise Culver gets at the end as makes contact. However, he needs to share credit with Robin Lopez who helps sell the disrespect of it all by chasing Culver to midcourt to tell him that no one, not Bennie the Bull and certainly not some snot-nosed rookie, is going to do him like that.
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