By Raul Maningat

Dunks are awesome and is one of the best things to ever happen in basketball. So we have to determine something very important: Between Vince Carter’s, LeBron James’, and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s soul-snatchers: Who dunked it best?

Not too long ago, Giannis Antetokounmpo visited the Garden and threw down one of the best in-game dunks of all time. See for yourselves:

For those who can’t watch the video at the moment, it was a one-handed alley-oop jam wherein the Greek Freak took off approximately 10 feet away from the rim and flew over 6’ 6” Knicks guard Tim Hardaway Jr., who had no choice but to cower in fear underneath, right between Giannis’ legs.

It was a bloody crime scene that reminded us of two other brutal dunks wherein the dunker literally leaped over a defender to slam it home.

1. Vince Carter’s Dunk of Death at the 2000 Olympics

2. LeBron’s party trick dunk over John Lucas III six years ago

The next thing that popped in our heads was: among the three, which dunk is the best? To come up with the most accurate conclusion, we rated the dunks using these 5 criteria: a.) Dunk difficulty b.) Dunk ferocity c.) Aerial artistry d.) Dunk execution and e.) Reaction elicited

The dunker that owns the most categories wins. Let’s begin.

Dunk difficulty

Winner: Vince Carter

3 things to point out:

1. Carter’s defender was a 7’2” giant, Giannis’ was a regular-sized basketball dude and Bron had a cute one—for that, LBJ’s dunk gets automatically eliminated.

2. He’s less tall and has shorter limbs compared to the 7-foot Antetokounmpo who’s got that pterodactyl wingspan.

3. He had the hardest jump because he came off the dribble and launched off of both feet as opposed to Bron and Giannis who were running full steam ahead before the takeoff. Plus, they were assisted by teammates who threw them pretty good lobs.

Dunk ferocity

Winner: Vince Carter

This one’s easy. You could just see it, feel it, smell it, hear it. Vince Carter’s dunk is the most ferocious. God’s wrath was behind that hammer.

Aerial artistry

Winner: Giannis Antetokounmpo

This one’s as easy as Category 2. Giannis wins this because he was a lot graceful than the other two nominees. He had more hang time and so you could just see him glide in the air longer. He even looked like Dr. J when he held the ball straight up on his way to the rack. It was beautiful and brutal at the same time—a true work of art.

Execution

Winner: Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis had the cleanest dunk and was executed flawlessly.

3 things to point out:

1. In LeBron’s dunk, the ball grazed the rim before it went through the net. In Giannis’ dunk, the ball went straight through the hoop like a bolt of lightning darted by Zeus himself, thus it was a cleaner dunk.

2. Vince Carter sort of pushed off the face of his defender Frederic Weis, which probably gave him a little extra lift. Giannis didn’t need any type of push off for his dunk so we’re giving the Greek Freak more credit for that.

3. The lob thrown to Giannis by Khris Middleton was nice. Giannis caught the ball at the right height and distance, making his dunk look like a Picasso.

Reaction elicited

Winner: Vince Carter

We appreciate the dumbfounded look that Giannis’ dunk had put on the face of tennis legend John McEnroe as well as Giannis’ very cool “what’s the big deal?” reaction. But we gave this one to Vince Carter because the reactions his dunk drew were a little more fun. Living up to his half man-half amazing moniker, Carter had the spectators standing up with their hands in their mouths trying to make sense of what they saw.

And the clincher: Vince’s and his Team USA buddy Kevin Garnett’s over the top celebration. The two looked like they were WWE wrestlers going through an episode of ‘roid-rage. Carter even threw a haymaker in the air that nearly wiped out KG’s face. KG didn’t flinch, though; he looked like he was ready to get hit. You just know it’s the ultimate dunk when someone is willing to get knocked out after witnessing it.

That’s three categories to two in favor of Vince Carter. Vince Carter owns the best dunk over a defender.

 

 

 

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