Are These The Top Five Dunks Of 2015?

There’s something special about a truly great dunk. You know what we’re talking about. It’s when a player comes through with a slam that we immediately know we’ll be talking about for years to come. These five dunks from the past year exemplify that perfectly. Now, there were plenty of great dunks this year, so limiting it to five was not easy, and if your favorite slam didn’t make the cut, don’t take it personally. With that in mind, here’s five dunks that will be etched into our memories forever

5. J.R. Smith’s Reverse Double Clutch Crush Against His Old Team

J.R. Smith can get up, and this one against the Knicks felt especially good because he caught the alley-oop pass from his teammate Iman Shumpert. Just a few months earlier, that same Knicks team had dealt Smith and Shump to the Cavs, and now they were enacting their vengeance. The iron must’ve felt so good after he flushed it through.

4. Kristaps Porzingis’ High-Flying Putback Against The Bucks

The put-back is Kristaps’ specialty, and there’s more than one to choose from for this list, but this throwdown against the Bucks is the one that stands out the most in my mind.

Porzingis starts the play by getting an impressive rebound on a missed free throw, but then, after a missed shot by Langston Galloway, Three Six Latvia comes soaring through the lane and flies above the rim for the monster slam. Kristaps is often compared to Dirk Nowitzki, but even at his peak, we never saw Dirk do things like this.

3-2. The Great Wiggins-Gobert War Of 2015

Yeah, we’re pretty much including this entire game. Rudy Gobert is one of the best shot blockers in the game, so dunking on him even once is impressive, but Andrew Wiggins managed to rise above the Stifle Tower twice in the Timberwolves’ showdown with the Jazz back in March of last season. First, he sneaked past for an and-1 finish to the side of Gobert’s outstretched hand.

But Gobert snuffed Wiggins’ next attempt to rim rock him along the near baseline.

Rudy even made sure SportsCenter was aware of the rejection.

But Wiggins did throw another one down over the top of Gobert, too, so he won this back-and-forth battle, which is our second and third best dunk of the year.

1. DeAndre Jordan Eviscerates Marco Belinelli And Greg Monroe

Oof, this was a rough one. When DJ is coming down the lane, the smartest thing you can do is just get out of the way. Presumably, Marco and Brandon Knight belong to a support group where they can talk about their traumatic experiences. Greg Monroe just joined earlier this season.

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