Zach LaVine's Best and Worst Slams of the Event

The hardest thing about writing this article was determining Zach LaVine's "worst" slams on Saturday night. If we're being honest, not one of the four slams the high-flying Minnesota Timberwolves guard threw down en route to the 2015 Slam Dunk title was poor.

Basketball writer Chris Palmer had high praise for LaVine's slams.

Let's start with the most amazing and work our way down this very short ladder.

Dunk 1

LaVine let us know the night would be a special one with this under the leg, on-second-thought, I'll-reverse slam that was inspired by the movie Space Jam.

The 19-year-old pogo stick came out with a Jordan jersey and did His Airness proud with a slam that was an instant classic. Call me a prisoner of the moment, but it was one of the best jams in Slam Dunk Contest history. 

It was scored the maximum of 50, but it deserved a 100. Per Steve Noah of Operation Sports, check out Julius Erving's reaction to LaVine's first slam.

Dunk 2

The second slam went around the back and it was nearly as impressive as the first. The coordination that it takes to leap that high in the air and control the ball behind your back can't be overstated.

This one was also given a 50. I liked the first slam a little bit better, but that's like someone saying Lauren London is a little bit prettier than Jessica Biel. When discussing two such beautiful examples, you can't lose with either one.

Dunk 3

With the third slam, and the first in the second round, LaVine took the ball out of teammate Andrew Wiggins' hands, went through the legs again and slammed it home as he flew by the basket.

This slam got him his lowest score of the contest, a 45, but it was still sweet. Granted, it wasn't on par with the first two, but it was still better than every other slam in the contest with the possible exception of the 540 Victor Oladipo did in the first round.

Dunk 4

If pressed, I'd say this was LaVine's worst slam. He scored a 49 with it, but I'd say it was too reminiscent of the third dunk. He went through the legs on three of his four slams, thus one could say his collection of dunks lacked the variation that Vince Carter had when he won in 2000.

That said, the fact that we're even talking about LaVine's performance in the same breath as Carter's iconic showing is testament to how great Minnesota's youngster was on Saturday night. 

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