There are only a few times where tossing down an awesome self alley-oop dunk will get you into trouble, and at the tail end of a blowout game is one of those times.
Monday, the Golden State Warriors took on the Dallas Mavericks in a game that was pretty much over as soon as it tipped off. At the end of the fourth quarter and with the Warriors up 25-points on the Mavs, Golden State rookie Jordan Bell decided to wake up the crowd with a jaw dropping self alley-oop dunk.
Unsurprisingly the Warriors bench loved it...but the Mavericks did not. According to the Athletic's, Anthony Slater, the Mavs head coach, Rick Carlisle, was so ticked off with Bell's showboating that he even refused to accept Warriors coach Steve Kerr's apology after the game.
Tuesday, LeBron James was asked what he thought about the rookie's late-game dunk and his response can pretty much be summed up in two words: "so what?"
While we understand respecting your opponent, one point that shouldn't be forgotten is that people are paying to watch the very best athletes perform at their very best. Blowouts aren't fun to watch, especially if you're favourite team is on the wrong end of it. Personally, we would prefer that players kept playing at 100% until the final whistle, including on breakaway plays like that.
As LeBron said, for anyone on the Mavs who didn't like the play, just stop him from dunking next time. You know...play defence?
