A Giannis Antetokounmpo Standing Dunk Is The Rudest Play In Basketball

Giannis Antetokounmpo had a great game against the Bulls last night, slapping them around with 36 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists in a 116-113 win. He also humiliated two of his opponents, the first being seven-foot center Robin Lopez:

And then poor Jabari Parker:

If you listen closely to this clip, you can hear someone on the court, perhaps Parker himself, yelling, “Help! Help!” right before the dunk.

Giannis has been doing this—receiving a pass under the basket, taking a moment to gather himself, and then dunking on his defender from a standing position—a lot this season, and for my money there is no play in basketball that is more discourteous. Part of this is obvious: it involves large men looking like toddlers standing under a Fisher-Price basket and getting dunked on by their dads. But what makes these dunks so much meaner when carried out by Giannis rather than, say, Boban Marjanovic, is that they are percussive reminders of just how unfairly Giannis is assembled.

A few minutes before that dunk on Parker, Antetokounmpo grabbed a defensive rebound, got to the other foul line in three dribbles, and then whipped a perfect pass to a running Malcolm Brogdon in the corner for a wide-open three. When these sorts of plays are bracketed by unstoppable point-blank dunks, the word that comes to mind is unfair. Every one of those dunks is a reminder that not only is Giannis extremely fast and strong and skilled, he is also quite large. He can tear you open on the break or with a driving spin move, and then also just stand there and plop the ball into the hoop with the ease of someone reaching for a mug on the top shelf.

It’s pretty fucked up, to be frank.