Blake Griffin Dunk on Kendrick Perkins vs. LeBron James on Lucas, Which Is Best?
Over the course of the past two days, NBA fans were treated to a pair of highlight dunks from two of the game's premier players in LeBron James and Blake Griffin.
The All-Star Game is sure to be fun with both players in it, but these two guys have given us All-Star-worthy highlights in the regular season.
However, whose dunk was better? Was it LeBron flying completely over John Lucas Sunday against the Bulls? Or was it Griffin thundering one down against Kendrick Perkins and the Thunder.
Unfortunately for Perkins and Lucas, they will be on the bad end of these two highlights that will be shown over and over again.
Let's take a look at both and decide.
Before we break them down, let's recognize the roles that Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade played in both highlight dunks. Both James and Griffin were set up with perfect passes to complete their dunks.
Looking at LeBron's dunk on Sunday, Richard Hamilton loses sight of James and poor Lucas had to pay for it, as LeBron jumps completely over him to finish the lob from Wade.
No doubt it was a great play and one of the top highlights of the NBA season, but I'm putting it a notch below Griffin's.
There really isn't a right answer in this debate, because both players were spectacular, but Griffin's is a tad bit better and that's no knock on James' dunk.
On this play, I look at Lucas, who wasn't even looking. He wasn't prepared to play defense or take a charge or anything like that. Lucas was just standing there.
Then there is the fact that Lucas stands only 5'11".
Not diminishing LeBron's dunk in anyway, but with a running start from the three-point line, there are probably a handful of NBA players who could jump over Lucas in that instance.
With Griffin, some can say he didn't dunk the ball, but he did and you have to look at who he did it against.
He went over a legitimate post defender in Perkins. A guy that rebounds and blocks shots in the paint.
The height that both Griffin and James got on their leaps is impressive enough, but on the Griffin play, the most impressive part could be the fact that Griffin got hit in the chest with two hands and Perkins also got him with the body.
Yet Griffin absorbed the contact and kept rising.
Then there was the power involved with the finish. Griffin's play was just more powerful and explosive overall.
It will rank as one of the best dunks in NBA history and even James claimed Griffin's to be the better dunk on Twitter.
While we may have witnessed the top two plays in the NBA this season within the past two days, only one of them ranks No. 1 and that's Griffin's thunder dunk over Perkins.
