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ESPNTheMag.Com Presents: All-World Power Rankings

What's the best dunk of the 2008-2009 NBA season?

by Ted Bauer

Getty Images
You know anyone else for whom the term "man-child" applies so directly?

BEST DUNK OF THE NBA SEASON? NOT TOO SHOCKING: WE'RE TAKING DWIGHT HOWARD

What is "All-World Power Rankings?"

We decided to look at the best dunks of the NBA regular season, because looking at people thundering on other people's heads is better than thinking about the ramifications of a 4-1 Houston win over Portland. Only thing we wanna mention before diving in is that dunking is a completely subjective thing to evaluate. Most people put (a) their favorite team or player or (b) something that involved posterization at the top of these lists. We've got a mix going. If you disagree, posterize us at this e-mail address.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY) WHAT WHY
1 (44) DWIGHT HOWARD REVERSE ALLEY VS. HORNETS Here it is. Justifications for this at No. 1: (a) it's Dwight Howard; (b) the Mike Tirico call is classic because it's like Tirico is one of your boys watching this game with you; (c) the play was an and-one; (d) it came against a playoff team in a national TV matchup; (e) it's a filthy dunk.
2 (800) GERALD WALLACE ON THE BLAZERS (AND ODEN) Here you go. Most people wouldn't put this so high, probably. Our reasoning: (a) the timing on it is very impressive; (b) it semi-underscores everything that Bill Simmons says here.
3 (1621) KOBE ALLEY-OOP VS. THE PISTONS Will you just look at the height he gets on this thing?
4 (213) T-MAC ON TYRUS THOMAS This dunk is interesting from a sociological perspective, in that both are "busts" in their own regard. But man, this dunk is straight thunder. You think he learned that post-dunk stare from 'Deke?
5 (384) SASHA VUJACIC AGAINST THE KINGS If you ever want to know how far Sacramento Kings basketball has fallen, all you need to do is watch this clip.

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY) WHAT WHY
118 (30,119) LEBRON CLEANS IT UP VS. HORNETS We'll dedicate this section to one from Bron, and one from D-Wade. Here's the Bron offering. Has he had better dunks? Sure. (We personally think this dunk is the most underrated of his career.) He had a few nasty ones in the open court this season, but we like the clean-up versus the Hornets. Mike Breen call is awesome, too.
927 (1991) D-WADE ON THE WIZARDS Here you go. The announcer description is pretty accurate: "D-Wade made up his mind to go to the glass, and nobody was gonna stop him." Can the Hawks?

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT WHAT
DERRICK ROSE VS. THE SUNS (We'll see more of this, we hope.)
LEBRON BLOCKS J-RICH (This was embarassing.)


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