Early Dunk of the Year Candidate

[kibaxx7]

The Wolves have one ugly ass court

Indeed

[Andrew]

Awesome dunk by Smith, an unnecessary risk of course but awesome nevertheless. I reckon it ends up at least in the top three in the dunk and alley-oop countdowns.

[kibaxx7]

Here you have it. The Dunk of the Year. I don't care it was a warmup.

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1:15

[Dee.]

Oh god,some crazy ass dunks.
Loved the Gortat between the legs.

[Andrew]

That just makes this year's dunk contest all the more disappointing. Carter can clearly still put on a show, it's a shame he has no interest in getting in there one more time; same with Howard. Even Gortat would've topped most of the entries, if only for the surprise of him pulling out a between-the-legs.

[JaoSming]

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remind you of anything though? Game in hand in the 4th, no need to showoff but T.A. throws it off the glass anyway?

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[Rip32]

Tony Allen is good at nothing but throwing alley-oops off the back board with the game out of reach lol

[Andrew]

You know, the ESPN crew on the latest video and the guys making the call for the Raptors certainly have a point, that kind of showboating in that situation really isn't the done thing yet at the same time they're trying to sell it along the lines of the Palace brawl. I remember when Sasha Vujavic attempted a shot instead of running down the clock in the deciding game of the 2008 Western Conference Finals and the ESPN guys made hardly a peep. Admittedly simply putting up a shot instead of running down the clock is a little different from a showboating alley-oop, but then I also remember a bit of showboating in the Celtics' rout in Game 6 of the Finals that same year and the ESPN/ABC crew didn't criticise them for it. It's not completely off the mark, but it's weird to get all high and mighty about it some of the time and not have a word to say against it at other times.

Rants against ESPN aside, nice play by Allen and Robinson even if it wasn't entirely appropriate.

[JaoSming]

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[Andrew]

That's the one. Seems my recollection was correct as well, no criticism on that play. That's ESPN for you.

[JaoSming]

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Mr Brewer again

[Andrew]

Nice.

[shadowgrin]

Rants against ESPN aside, nice play by Allen and Robinson even if it wasn't entirely appropriate.

I still don't get why people are against that sort of thing. They are paid professionals, it's their job to play both ends while the game is on-going even if it's already out of reach. Play defense to prevent the winning team from embarrassing you with dunks as the game winds down.

[Andrew]

It at least borders on being unsportsmanlike in its own way, I'll give it that. Still, a purist might suggest players like that are unsportsmanlike and making a mockery of the game no matter the score and how much time is left in the game. Above all, being selective about when it's alright or no big deal and when it's to be chastised is silly and hypocritical.

[hova-]

I don't think it's unsportsmanlike. I mean, you're loosing big and the game is out of reach, it is kind of your own fault. Showing off a bit is what the fans like so I don't think it you can call a bad thing. Just compete hard and thus try to avoid blow outs or even blow out others and make your own thing.

[Martti.]

Yeah, Gerald Green's dunk was more unsportsmanline because they could have ran out the clock. There was still about 45 seconds left. Holing the ball and passing it like in NBA Live 06 would have resulted in 24 seconds of misery. Might as well do something for the fans to cap off a big win.

[Andrew]

I don't think it's unsportsmanlike. I mean, you're loosing big and the game is out of reach, it is kind of your own fault. Showing off a bit is what the fans like so I don't think it you can call a bad thing. Just compete hard and thus try to avoid blow outs or even blow out others and make your own thing.

Depends how much time is left in the game. If you're at a point where the game is basically over and you can just dribble it out, then I think it's fair enough to say that should be the done thing in that situation. More than two possessions left in the game though, I don't think it should be a big issue if you break out a little flair especially on a fast break like that.

[hova-]

Yeah you're right. I did not consider the fact that the clock was expiring on the Green-Allen play. That's just unsportsmanlike because the other team does not defend anymore and then it's simply nothing special to pull off big moves 2 on 0.

[alphanumeric]

This could be worth counting.

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[Andrew]

I'd say it's up there.