Kevin Durant Almost Exploded The Universe On This Missed Dunk

For my money, a thunderous, rim-rattling, shockwave-inducing dunk is best when it comes on the road. At home, the crowd will erupt, but they'll erupt for anything: a layup, cheerleaders, a taco cannon, whatever, they're already primed to react. But if you can get a reaction in a visiting arena, where you're ostensibly the bad guy, you know you've done something special.

Kevin Durant didn't complete this dunk in Brooklyn last night—Andray Blatche took the foul rather than get posterized, and the slam would've been too beautiful for this world anyway—but the effect was the same. The Nets crowd lets out the collective "OOOOOHHHH" sound, their vocal apparatuses buying time to process and articulate what they just saw. This is maybe the most pure arena moment, a 17,000-person murmured veneration before they snap back to reality and remember that they're supposed to be rooting against the guy who just turned them giddy with awe.

[via That NBA Lottery Pick]