Outdoing Blake Griffin’s Car Dunk

Dunk Contest First

It didn’t take long for some to surpass Blake Griffin’s dunk during the Dunk Contest of All-Star weekend when he jumped over a car. If you watched the contest, or any new Kia car commercial, you know that Griffin for his final dunk and set it up just out from under the rim, the sun roof then opened and a grinning Baron Davis popped his head out of the opening, holding the ball and ready to toss it to Griffin. While the car was getting set up, an entire choir (not just a few people, an ENTIRE CHOIR) lined up at half court and began to sing ‘I Believe He Can Fly’ and Griffin began to back up, ready to start his run. Finally, he started his sprint and just as he reached the car Davis tossed the ball up and Griffin jumped over the

hood, caught the ball, and dunked it through the net. The theatrics won Griffin the contest. You can see the dunk by clicking the link (The fact that the dunk actually occurs about 2 minutes into the video is a true testament as to how drawn out it was, luckily Charles Barkely makes up for the wait with his wonderful quote towards the end of the video “If a pretty girl is dumb it don’t matter”): Watch it here.

Dunk Contest Second

Less than a month after jumping over a car, Griffin’s dunk was copied and outdone by And 1 streetballer Guy Dupuy. The video of this crazy dunk game be seen here.

Let’s break down why Dupuy’s dunk is so much better than Griffin’s. And when I say “so much better,” I mean SOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER!!!!!

1)  Dupuy did not need the help of Kenny Smith yapping on the microphone to hype up his dunk to the crowd. If someone has to convince the crowd, and the judges, that this dunk is going to be amazing then it is probably not going to be as great as expected. Smith sounded like a used car salesman (pun intended) trying to persuade everyone in the crowd to buy a beat down car without taking it for a test drive first. Unfortunately, the judges did trust him and that is why Griffin won the contest. The judges had Smith’s words ringing in their ear and were blinded by what they were expecting to see rather than what they did see. Much like the person that buys that car off the lot, I am sure those judges were going through buyer’s regret once they realized what they had done in terms of giving an over inflated score for a mediocre dunk. Dupuy just went out there and let his dunk do the talking for him, and it certainly spoke for itself.

2)  Dupuy did not need an choir singing as he dunked. Like the MC theatrics, having a choir singing as you are about to dunk takes away from the dunk itself. LET THE DUNK SPEAK FOR ITSELF. Everyone knows Griffin can “fly.” We see every dunk he does in a game replayed on Sportscenter over and over again and there is a reason he is in the dunk contest. We know what Griffin is capable of. Much like the first point, just let the dunk speak for itself. No need for theatrics like that.

3)  Griffin jumped over the hood of the car, Dupuy jumped over the middle of the car. A lot of people in the NBA can jump over the hood of a car while getting the ball tossed to them. Dunking over the middle of a car is much more difficult. Granted, Dupuy did it with a convertible with the top down, but he still cleared it with ease. If you have any doubts regarding jumping with the top down, point #4 should clear those up for you.

4)  My final point is based on how the ball was given to each dunker. Griffin was tossed the ball out of the sun roof and then just dunked it. I maintain my statement from before that many NBA players can do that, especially when they get the ball lofted to them. Dupuy, however, took it to the next level (that doesn’t even do it justice, he took it not just to the next level, but multiple levels up). Dupuy had someone stand in front of the car holding the ball up in his hand. AsDupuy, ran up to the car, he grabbed it out of the man’s hand, brought it through his legs and then dunked it home. It was not just a normal alley-oop like Griffin’s, it was exponentially better. Taking the ball out of someone’s hand and then bringing it through his legs, all in mid air, and dunking it cleanly while clearing the middle of a car is insane.

Griffin was given so much credit for his dunk because he needed the help of Kenny Smith and a choir to hype it up. When the drawn out dunk finally did occur, it was seen as so amazing because of all the theatrics that came with it and hype that was pumped into it. Nobody seemed to notice that he really just jumped over the hood of the car, a feat really not that impressive for a dunker who can hit his head on the bottom of the backboard. Dupuy left all that drama behind and let his dunk get everyone going. And boy did he not disappoint. The act of jumping over the middle of the car, taking the ball out of someone’s hand, and then going between the legs, all in the air, is why this dunk far outshines Blake Griffin’s over hyped and over appreciated dunk circus that happened to have a dunk at the end.

Go on youtube and look up some more of Guy Dupuy’s dunks, I promise you will not be disappointed.