Deadspin: Dunks

Very Short Debate: Was Blake Griffin's Dunk Last Night A Dunk?

Tommy Craggs — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:30:58 EST

Yes. More »

Russell Westbrook's Dunk Attempt Did Not Go As Smoothly As Blake Griffin's

Timothy Burke — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:05:33 EST

This might be a bit tough to watch after seeing Blake Griffin consume and excrete Kendrick Perkins, but every yang needs a yin and if there's anything other than that dunk to serve as synecdoche for last night's 112-100 Clippers win over Oklahoma City, it's Russell Westbrook being stuffed by the rim. [NBA TV] More »

Blake Griffin Just Dunked On The Entire Perkins Family Tree

Timothy Burke — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:17:15 EST

It's only halfway through the abbreviated NBA season, so I'm hesitant to dub anything dunk of the year. But here it is, dunk of the year—and of course it's from Blake Griffin. Kendrick Perkins's family requests no flowers be sent. [NBA TV] More »

LeBron James Hurdled John Lucas To Complete This Alley-Oop

Timothy Burke — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:38:13 EST

LeBron James has made the spectacular commonplace for so long, we almost miss the fine details of plays like this one, which initially appears to be a standard lob play. More »

Chandler Parsons Just Dunked On JaVale McGee

Timothy Burke — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:45:25 EST

Sure, it's a tip-slam, but if you're 7'0" JaVale McGee then the likes of Chandler Parsons should not be dunking on you—under any circumstances. Parsons then rides around with his crotch in McGee's face for a few seconds just added to the degradation, but these sorts of things are how a team like Washington can start the season 1-11. [CSN] More »

Broken Backboard, Bloody Face

Barry Petchesky — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 17:05:00 EDT

Oregon State athletes are in the middle of a service tour (delightfully called "Beavers Without Borders") and at a recent stop in Macedonia, sophomore guard Roberto Nelson shattered the backboard on a putback dunk. Maybe it's because they don't use safety glass in Macedonia, or maybe it's because Shaq actually lives in a movie, but we've never seen one of these highlight reel dunks end up with shards of glass embedded in a bloody face. More »

Chicago Columnist Wants To Raise The Rims, Is Against The Passage Of Time

David Roher — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 16:20:00 EDT

Dunks made up about 7% of points scored in the 2010-11 season. That's too many, says Sun-Times columnist Rick Telander, and it's time to raise the rim by half a foot: More »

It Was Totally Not Brendan Haywood's Fault That Kevin Durant Posterized Him, Says Brendan Haywood

Jack Dickey — Sat, 21 May 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Remember this dunk? Of course you do. It was awesome. Brendan Haywood, whose greatest skill has traditionally been being marginally better than Erick Dampier or Etan Thomas, remembers it too. More »

There Were No Fans Or Cars In Attendance At This Incredible High School Dunk Contest

Emma Carmichael — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:40:00 EDT

These are the highlights to the first-ever Ballislife All American Dunk Contest, which by our first appraisal seems more impressive than both the McDonald's contest and the one that featured Kias and choruses a few months ago. A few names here you can expect to see in next year's college rounds: Amir Garrett, who's signed with St. John's, Jahii Carson, Arizona State, and Nick Johnson, Arizona's new Derrick Williams. Garrett came out the winner, and nobody was really there to see him accept his collectible miniature trophy. More »

Short White Guy Wins College Dunk Contest

Barry Petchesky — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:30:00 EDT

So ends the ballad of short white guy. Jacob Tucker captured our hearts, with his average height and above-average ability to jump and slam a basketball through a rim. And these were legitimately good dunks — no affirmative action here. But if you're wondering why such an athlete would be stuck in Division III, and not playing for a big time program, check that .564 free throw percentage. Someone's been neglecting the fundamentals. More »

Vince Carter Reminds Us That He's Still Vince Carter

Emma Carmichael — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:15:00 EDT

A chin-strapped, goateed Vince Carter took off against the Thunder last night and, with a quick spin-move into the block and a graceful reverse dunk, returned us all to a time when he was Half Amazing. Carter has been in the league for 12 years and he's still averaging close to 15 points per game for the Suns and still throwing down dunks like this when he wants to. He had 28 points in Phoenix's 116-98 loss. More »

Short White Guy Will Dunk On National TV

Barry Petchesky — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 17:15:00 EDT

Jacob Tucker, the 5'11" Division III YouTube sensation, officially received his invite to the College Slam Dunk Contest, to be held tomorrow night in Houston. You did it, you dogged internet voters. You made a young man's dream come true. (Not Rico Cunningham, the other DIII dunker nominee. You stepped on his dreams with your stiletto heel, and ground them into the pavement.) More »

Who Wants To See What The Chinese Dunk Contest Looks Like?

Barry Petchesky — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:40:00 EDT

You know you were curious. More »

Let's Marvel At D-Wade's Two-Handed Dunk, And Laugh At His Celebration In A Game They Would Lose

Barry Petchesky — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 09:45:00 EDT

Wade's vertical should be measured in Bibbys instead of inches here, throwing one down (way down) in the second quarter of last night's game against OKC. Are we bringing back the Cabbage Patch? Let's not bring back the Cabbage Patch. More »

That's Not A Car Dunk. This Is A Car Dunk

Barry Petchesky — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EST

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This is Frenchman Guy Dupuy putting on a show on the And1 Live tour. (Somewhere, Blake Griffin is saying to himself, "ohhh, jumping over the tall park of the car. Yeah, that would have been more impressive.") More »

55-Year-Old Former Clipper Also Dunks Over A Car

Barry Petchesky — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 09:30:00 EST

Your morning roundup for March 8, the day we didn't want to dine with zombies. More »

There's A 14-Year-Old In Canada With A 39-Inch Vertical Leap

Emma Carmichael — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 17:45:00 EST

Treat Yourself To The Motherlode Of NBA Slam Dunk Contest Videos

Emma Carmichael — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 12:35:00 EST

Let's say you want to weep for Shawn Kemp's dunks in the '91 slam dunk contest, because everyone is forgetting the talent that preceded Blake Griffin. Hoopism is here for you, with video for any single dunk you want to see. More »

ASU Student Dunks Ball, Self

Barry Petchesky — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST

Nick Corrales is on the Suns' little trampoliney-dunkey team, but overshot his mark Wednesday night. I think that's touching it above the cylinder, so it doesn't count. More »

When Large Dunking Man Meets Poorly Made Backboard

Barry Petchesky — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 13:50:17 EST

NBA castoff Rafael Araujo — formerly Hoffa, now Baby — completely wrecked the backboard at FIBA Americas League play for his Brazilian team. Yes, there's video. More »

Rick Reilly Takes It To The Hole

Barry Petchesky — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:40:01 EST

Not even joking: we enjoyed Reilly's work here. Of course, it's not writing, but rather destroying his Pop-A-Shot machine with a thunderous dunk. [ESPN.com, h/t JobuNeedsARefill] More »

Andray Blatche Out-Terribles Hedo's Blown Dunk

Barry Petchesky — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 10:30:00 EST

You thought this was bad? You don't know bad. Andray Blatche knows bad. More »

Devils’ Advocate: Toepocalypse Now

Ben Cohen — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:50:51 EST

Every week, this recent Duke graduate will offer you a new reason not to hate the Duke Blue Devils, the bestest basketball team in the land. You are free to disagree. More »

Gary Neal Will Look Nice On The Bottom Half Of This Poster

Barry Petchesky — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST

J.R. Smith get both air and distance, demolishing Neal with both hands. A bit of revenge - the Spurs later drew a charge to negate the potential gamewinner, but fundamental D doesn't sell sneakers. More »

And Here's An 11-Year-Old Dunking

Barry Petchesky — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:25:07 EST

And yes, that's a regulation rim. Adrian Moore is in seventh grade, which means he won't even start college until 2016. Assuming he's not already playing for money somewhere in Europe next year. [Prep Rally, h/t Ryanosaurus Rex] More »

Devils' Advocate: White Men Can Jump

Ben Cohen — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:00:00 EST

Every week, this recent Duke graduate will offer you a new reason not to hate the Duke Blue Devils, the bestest basketball team in the land. You are free to disagree. More »

Weekend Winner: Blake Griffin's NBA Jam

Barry Petchesky — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 10:35:32 EST

A lockout could kill the NBA for a while, and to win back America, it'll need a thriller. Not Kobe's silent efficiency, or Dwight's restrained excellence. It'll need video game-spectacular guys like Blake Griffin, who built a poster factory the other night. More »

Thunderous Dunk Uses Opponent's Chest As A Springboard

Barry Petchesky — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:50:00 EST

Best we can tell, this is from the third level of the German pro basketball system, and that's University of Dayton grad Marcus Johnson going all Tom Chambers on some poor schmo. All 35 fans were thrilled. More »

Impressive Dunk Makes Announcer Shout Something Your Grandmother Might Say

David Matthews — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 11:30:00 EDT

With a clear lane to the hoop—thanks to Manu Ginobili getting burned going for a steal—Eric Gordon threw down a spectacular dunk last night. One that made Clippers play-by-play guy Ralph Lawler delightfully exclaim, "Oh me oh my!" [Awful Announcing] More »

BREAKING: Short NBA Player Was Jealous Of Slightly Taller NBA Player

David Matthews — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:50:33 EDT

Noted short person and former NBA player Muggsy Bogues let the cat out of the bag today, finally coming clean about his jealousy of Spud Webb's ability to dunk. [@muggsybogues] More »

Dunker Kicks Defender In The Nuts, Hangs On Rim In Most Emasculating Facial Ever

David Matthews — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:45:10 EDT

Here's Tony Skinn, last seen on these shores helping George Mason to the Final Four, vaulting off some guy's coinpurse and dunking. Skinn, it seems, is no stranger to exploiting a man's pain threshold to attain basketball success. [TheHoopsDoctors.com] More »

Last Night's Winner: Josh Smith

Dashiell Bennett — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EDT

In sports, everyone is a winner—some people just win better than others. Like the small number of people who can say that they've won a game with a buzzer-beating, put-back slam dunk. That usually makes a good story. More »

Backboard-Shattering Dunk Exciting, Highly Inconvenient

Dashiell Bennett — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:45:37 EDT

Two teams in Michigan were forced to move their regional final to another school, mid-game, after one player destroyed a backboard with a life-altering dunk. Thus making it both the most exciting and most tedious basketball game ever. More »

Today In Ridiculous High School Dunks

David Matthews — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:55:01 EDT

On his way to leading Springfield Hillcrest to the Missouri state championship, Trey Starks took some time to jump over a much taller opponent for a vicious dunk. It's a recurring thing for him. H/t David K. for the video. More »

Jerry Stackhouse Gets LeBron'd By John Wall

Dashiell Bennett — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:15:19 EDT

No photographers were harmed (or paid thousands of dollars) to bring you this video of super recruit John Wall getting all up in Jerry Stackhouse's mug. Note to NBA'ers at basketball camps: Never attempt to play defense. Ever. [Ballin'isaHabit] More »

Dunks As Life Changers

Clay Travis — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:30:45 EDT

We’ve all seen dunks that left us speechless. Especially if you witnessed them in person. I knew this was true, sort of vaguely, but that realization crystallized for me when I read Bruce Feldman’s article about a then unknown Tracy McGrady throwing down on a top basketball recruit, James Felton. More »