For at least one night, DeAndre Jordan topped his good friend and L.A. teammate Blake Griffin on the dunk-o-meter.
With a little over four minutes left in the second quarter of Sunday’s game between the Clippers and the Pistons, the Clippers center lit up Staples Center and social media with his jaw-dropping, one-handed, alley-oop, above-the-rim dunk over Pistons guard Brandon Knight. Yes, that same Brandon Knight who found himself the butt of All-Star jokes when he fell down trying to stop Kyrie Irving’s crossover move during All-Star Weekend. There’s no explanation yet as to why Knight (listed at 6-3) would even try to block Jordan’s slam (listed at 6-11).
To add insult to Knight’s already injured ego, the ball hit Knight’s head on the way down. The ball was OK, though.
Griffin, who has seen his share of monster dunks, said Jordan’s superslam was “the best dunk of the year and the best I’ve seen in person.” That’s high praise from the former Slam Dunk champion who is a nightly regular on SportsCenter with his assaults on the rim.
Griffin wasn’t the only superstar who was impressed by the dunk. LeBron James tweeted: “DeAndre Jordan!!!! Dayyyuummmm!! Dunk of the year #littletikeshoop”
”Usually I get that dunk and nobody is right there. This is the first time somebody tried to block it,” said Jordan, who was the beneficiary of a perfect lob pass from Chris Paul.
Paul said he and Jordan had been trying to execute the play for the previous three or four possessions. In case you missed Jordan’s alley-oop dunk that was a trending topic on Twitter, here it is: