My Top 10 Plays of the 2010/11 Season

Apparently the NBA’s top 10 was Youtubed two days ago… I have no idea how I missed it.  Anyway, here it is, the top 10 of all top 10s for the 2010/11 season…

Uh, wait a minute… what the hell was that?  I’m counting 27 plays in that video.  Every other number was a compilation of some sort.  This would’ve been cool if it was packaged as a season highlight reel or something–there were tons of amazing plays in there–but I was looking for an ordered list to pick apart.  I’ve seen all the sick plays a thousand times; I want them ranked, dammit!  Looks like I’m gonna have to do it myself since the NBA put together nothing but a giant cop out.  This is going to be tough, and I’m sure many will disagree with some of my choices and the order I’ve placed them in, but I think my top 10 is pretty solid.  It’s got a nice mixture of dunks, swats, dishes, and clutch buckets.  I took a variety of things into account when trying to determine the order: degree of difficulty, WOW factor (the simplest aspect; how sick did the play look?), replay value (how memorable was the play?), and the game’s situation when the play happened.  Here’s what I came up with…

#10: JR Smith’s buzzer-beating dunk over Gary Neal.

This may have ranked higher if Kevin Harlan hadn’t screamed “RIDE ‘EM COWBOY!” as JR swagged his way to the freethrow line.  Just kidding… but seriously, Kevin, don’t ever say that again.  Anyway, I feel that there were a few dunks better than this that won’t make my top 10, but as a complete play, I feel like this deserves the nod.  JR had to worry about the mere six seconds remaining on the clock as he pulled this off.  Sick play. 

#9: LeBron’s over-the-head pass to Erick Dampier.

He hit Damp right in the mits without ever having looked.  Throw in the steal and you’ve got one helluva highlight.

#8: Blake Griffin’s reverse alley-oop from Eric Bledsoe.

First of all, note that Eric Bledsoe threw the pass backwards to hit Griffin.  That’s such a strange (and difficult) way to set up a reverse alley-oop.  Normally the dunker is between the passer and the basket and turns their back to the rim in order to see the ball.  There was absolutely no reason for Blake to reverse this… he just did it because he can.  Show off.

#7: Andrew Bogut’s game-winning tip.

Why does this make the cut while Batum’s doesn’t?  Well, Bogut went up with one hand and tapped it right over Jeff Foster’s head.  I can dig it.

#6: Dwyane Wade’s full-court lob to LeBron.

This is a spot or two higher if LeBron jams it.  Even without a dunk it was pretty damn ridiculous.  If Dwyane’s basketball career fizzles I think there would probably be a spot for him in the NFL. 

#5: Javale McGee’s block on Wes Matthews.

A lot of people consider this the greatest block of all time.  Javale’s is extremely similar.  He had a lot of nasty swats this season, but this is one of the best I’ve ever seen.

#4: Nick Young’s 360 Layup.

Talk about degree of difficulty… more like degree of impossibility.  I think this is probably the most underrated highlight of the season.  The guy crossed from one side of the basket to the other, spun a full 360 degrees, and switched hands in the f@cking air.  Seriously, Vince Carter doesn’t have sh!t on this.  One of the craziest layups you will ever see, period.

#3: Emeka Okafor’s game-winner.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.  ‘Meka proved that little saying to be true with this play.  The shot was extra crazy because the air had been totally sucked out of the building after David West went down with his gruesome knee injury moments before.  I think everyone was ready to call it a night… and then Emeka puts this shot in, suddenly changing the atmosphere of Energy Solutions Arena drastically.  Shout out to Aaron Gray for the pass.

#2: Blake Griffin’s dunk on Timofey Mozgov.

You can’t talk about the top plays of the 2010/11 NBA season and not talk about this dunk.  It was certainly the first thing that popped into my head when I decided to construct this list.  If someone asked me to show them one play to sum up this entire NBA season, I’d probably roll with this one.  Blake Griffin was the story of the regular season for me, and this play sums that story up quite effectively.

#1: Tyreke Evans one-ups OJ Mayo:

Hell, OJ’s shot alone may have cracked the top 10.  Throw in the miraculous heave from Tyreke Evans?  Certainly one of the coolest finishes I’ve ever seen, and worthy of my play of the year.

Honorable Mentions: How ’bout this ridiculous pass from Andre Iguodala to Marreese Speights?  I almost chose that one over LeBron’s dish to Dampier… and how ’bout this amazing teamwork from the Utah Jazz?  Rudy Gay, Paul Pierce, and Mike Dunleavy all had game-winners that nearly made the cut.  Rodney Stuckey put this nasty hesitation move on Daequan Cook… that was probably my favorite dribble move of the season, but I don’t think it was a top 10 play.  There were tons of dunks that could be argued for… Thornton on Pachulia, Wade on Perkins, Howard on Holiday, DeRoZaN on Thomas… I could go on forever.  It was a great season for dunks.