Open thread & Iconic Warriors Dunks Round 2: #14 Webber on Barkley vs #11 Klay's first dunk back
battle of the upsets
Most Iconic Warriors Dunk Tournament
The question is simple: What is the most iconic Warriors dunk?
To settle this extremely important matter, we will have a straight single elimination bracket tournament. You might say, wait isn’t this just an excuse to rewatch fantastic dunks? Of course not, this is purely for science.
DNHQ commenters nominated a number of dunks. I filtered out 16 based on whether I could find an official NBA or ESPN YouTube video about the play. The reasoning is simple: How iconic can a play be if it doesn’t have its own video?
I considered determining the seeding using the same strategy as NCAA March Madness Committees — “pulling it out of my butt” — but I opted to seed the plays based on the number of views the official video had. Humans must make the final decision. Humans like you.
I suggest for this very scientific process that you carefully view each dunk and put the volume on loud.
#14 Webber behind the back dunk on Barkley
#11 Klay's first dunk back
Vote
You can vote in the poll above or make a comment vote explaining your choice and including exactly one hashtag #FOURTEEN or #ELEVEN.
Results of Last Vote
The weighted results of last vote.
43% — #4 Wiggins on KAT (poll 65%, comments 35%)
54% — #5 Barnes on Pekovic (poll 28%, comments 65%)
The unusual close split vote! The poll broke clearly for Wiggins but the comments broke for Barnes. There were a notable number of votes saying “I like Wiggins better but I’m going to vote up a different Wiggins dunk and give Barnes a little credit here.”
Open Thread & Iconic Warriors Dunk Tournament…
I predict the winner will be a savage dunk against MIN signaling the awakening of a new Warriors talent
Night Night (4 ♡):
#FOUR
Why? Because I have been a Wiggins truther for a while, and I am emotionally invested in Wiggins and his boom-shakalaka dunks.
That's it, that's my primary metric for this vote.
jeckyllhouse (3 ♡):
#FOUR
because of the personal relationship between Wiggs & KAT
because of the encore performance
and most of all because it showed us the fire that was to come from Playoff Wiggs
Goofus (3 ♡):
I vote #FOUR but it’s tough one that probably came down to recency bias. Barnes’ dunk might have been more impressive, but Wiggins showing signs of fire in his belly was an exciting moment.
stopnpop (2 ♡):
This one is close. I had to think about this one way longer than the others. I think HB had the better finish with the scissor kick and extension through body contact. KAT rotates to Wiggs with the intention to make a defensive play... there's even body contact but KAT goes "nope" mid-flight realizing he's not as tall as Wiggs. And Wiggs' follow-through was... another dunk! That has to count for something right?
By themselves, I think it's a coin-flip... but I think the dunk on Luka (and maybe Clarke too) overshadow this one in terms of iconic-ness so I will give this one to HB.
#FIVE
mDuo13 (1 ♡):
Difficult choice. I love what the Wiggins dunk represents. This was perhaps the break-out moment that signaled the forthcoming playoff explosion he delivered en route to his first championship. A big, fat, inescapable signpost that says, "Oh yeah, he really wants it." (KAT, on the other hand, obviously wants no part of it, which is pretty funny but does detract one potential element from the dunk.)
The HB one is…interesting. I wasn't watching Dubs basketball as closely at the time, so I don't remember it specifically. It's a really impressive show of technique and athleticism: right up, through and over the contest from a bigger defender.
Both have lots of force and impressive hangtime, so it's a push there. And Wiggins, we know, went on to have an arguably even more iconic jam over Doncic in the playoffs of the same season, whereas this *might* be the best dunk Barnes ever threw down in a Warriors uniform. Also, Wiggins' story with the Dubs looks like it'll extend several years into the future (trades notwithstanding) whereas it would be kind of surprising to see Barnes again. (Maybe in the twilight of his career a la a different Barnes.) It is pretty funny and just a little sad seeing the comments from 9 years ago on that video saying, "This kid is gonna be a star!"
Hell, #FIVE because HB deserves something and that *is* a sweet jam over a real contest.
Late, but I gotta re-up for #ELEVEN, as a signpost on the way to the chip.
"If You're Gonna Shimmy, You Can't Shoot An Airball" 💀 | Shaqtin a Fool | NBA on TNT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjdeb5nCJtM