We’re not even two weeks into March yet and DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin have combined to amass enough top-10 worthy dunks for their own personal highlight reel. In just five games the stars of Lob City have staked their claim to not only the two best dunks of the entire NBA season, but to many that will be on a “Best of March” highlight reel soon. We couldn’t wait until the end of the month to compile our early favorites for Jordan and Griffin’s best dunks of the month.
10. GRIFFIN AGAINST THE NUGGETS
OK, he’s just getting warmed up.
9. ONE-STEP GRIFFIN
Griffin needed all of one step to gather to finish this dunk from well outside the restricted area. It looks easy because it’s Griffin dunking, but that’s a ton of distance to cover with the momentum of just one drop-step.
8. DEANDRE BACKS DOWN ZELLER
Just like Griffin at No. 9, watch where Jordan takes off from on this otherwise run-of-the-mill backdown move on Tyler Zeller. What makes both the dunks worthy of a second look and inclusion here is how the pair’s wingspans and hops allow them to take off where another player would need another dribble before going up at the rim. Cleveland’s rookie may offer scant defense, but Jordan’s leap from outside the restricted area stands on its own merit.
7. BLAKE GOES BASELINE
Griffin showed off his handle Sunday night against Detroit by legitimately crossing over his man for a baseline reverse layup. Against Milwaukee on March 6, he offered a preview for that with a slight variation: He didn’t quite nail the baseline crossover but did close with a better finish.
6. ALLEY-OOP IN TRAFFIC
A few days before Jamal Crawford and Griffin hooked up for their instant-classic lob against the Bucks, they connected on another transition oop. This time it was against Cleveland, where Shaun Livingston was in position to defend the lob but wisely chose not to. Livingston may be well past his well-documented knee injury, but the difference between his hops and Griffin’s is still a mile wide.
5. DEANDRE JORDAN’S SKY-HIGH ALLEY-OOP
Against the Bucks, CP3 again found Jordan for an alley-oop that was indefensible. Even if someone had been between Jordan and the hoop, only Larry Sanders could have matched Jordan’s wingspan to intercept a pass thrown around 11 feet off the ground.
4. UP AND OVER A CAVALIER
Dunking over a 6-10 defender at full speed isn’t easy to do — Griffin just made it look so against Cleveland.
3. FOLLOW DUNK FROM BLAKE
It’s not too hard of a request for Clippers opponents: When a shot goes up, find Griffin and block his path to the rim. That is all.
2. JAMAL CRAWFORD’S OOP TO BLAKE GRIFFIN
It’s easy to create the straw man to dispute the ridiculousness of this dunk by saying, well, it was in transition, sans defense. It’s true, but Griffin didn’t know what was coming, turning Crawford’s impromptu lob between his legs into a highlight.
1. DEANDRE JORDAN OVER BRANDON KNIGHT
Move over, Blake. Move over … everyone this season? The greatness of Jordan’s finish off Chris Paul‘s toss was a product of how far he was from the cup, that he dunked it preposterously hard with his off hand, and Brandon Knight‘s attempt to block it. It was nice that he tried to contest the dunk, but really, there are only likely a handful of players in the NBA who could have defended this given the amount of time Knight had to prepare. If you ever doubted the term Lob City, this dunk should change your mind.
What do you think?
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