With 11 and a half minutes to go, the playoff-bound Grizzlies were losing to the seven-win Bobcats by eight points. They’d been missing jump shot after jump shot and allowing Charlotte to score at a relatively-feverish pace. Then Dante Cunningham rolled to the basket and demonstratively dunked the ball over Bismack Biyombo…
…and it was as if a door to the painted area had been opened. Dante’s dunk accounted for the first two points of a 20-4 Memphis run. The Grizzlies suddenly looked like an inspired bunch, approaching the stretch run with such passion that a shoving match broke out between Marreese Speights and Byron Mullens. Memphis went on to win it by five.
Did a Dante Cunningham dunk keep the ’11/12 Bobcats in the hunt for worst team of all-time? I don’t know about that… but the slam certainly served as a timely shot of enthusiasm for the Memphis Grizzlies. And hey, if the big win can’t be chalked up to a single Dante Cunningham dunk, maybe it can be credited to three of them. Cunningham scored six points, all on dunks, during that 20-4 run.
Dunk rating on the Starbury Nastiness Scale:
7.5/10 Starbury Nasty Faces
Throwback Poster of the Day: Trevor Ariza on Al Harrington…