ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — The Phoenix Suns have played an uptempo style of basketball the last few years, and one of the players who has perfectly fit their system has been Gerald Green. And while Green has developed into a nice all-around basketball player, his dunking ability has always drawn raves. Green has been in three NBA Slam Dunk contests, winning in 2007, and today after a Suns practice, he got into a dunk-off against Suns guard Archie Goodwin. Goodwin gave Green a run for his money, but Green seemed to show Goodwin who’s the boss…
Dwight Howard even added his own Superman touch to it.
And now, once again, Dunk HQ legend Gerald Green is writing a new chapter in the “Do It Yourself”, pass-off-the-backboard-for-a-slam manual.
This spur-of-the-moment play is nothing new for Green, who stunned the Blazers last season with something similar. This time, it’s the Magic who are the victim of Green’s “make a way out of no way” thought process.
Let the scouting report show: it’s probably best if opponents don’t let Green step through and around them at the right elbow.
When most of us think of NBA Jam of the 1990s on the old Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo, we think of the high-flying dunks, the trademark catch-phrases (“Boom shalakalaka! He’s heating up! He’s on fire!). For me, that game was all about getting on fire and seeing how far away from the hoop you could get before you’d go up for a monster jam.
Anyway, we mention all of that to say sometime art imitates life in the NBA. A couple of nights ago, Gerald Green of the Phoenix Suns went into NBA Jam mode. He burned the Oklahoma City Thunder for a career-best 41 points and eight 3-pointers en route to Phoenix’s upset win. The fine folks over at Suns.com decided to give his night a little bit of the NBA Jam treatment:
We understand that progression is the key to pretty much anything in life. Trust me, I get it. Sometimes you just have to move on and move forward.
But to completely give up on the Dunk Contest though? Now that’s just down right unacceptable. Not when you’re arguably one of the most exciting dunkers we have in the league today. Not when you’ve been spotlighted more than once on our Dunk HQ countdown and voted by the faithful HQ fanbase as the highest jumper of all in today’s NBA land. And not when you already own a seat amongst the gods of the dunk.
Talk to us, Gerald. We’re here to listen. Vent. Get all of those frustrations out. What’s missing? Are you feeling a tad unappreciated even? I mean, do you honestly not see what we’ve seen in some your previous Dunk Contest jams? What do we need to do to sway you to come back? Hopefully we can find the answers better than Kanye West can.
What do you think? Is Green feeling a little, well, green? Help us out here.
As always, make sure to hit up the new and improved Dunk HQ, your official NBA.com home for slams, where we’ll be rating all of the top dunks of the season and much more.
A player’s shoes always make a statement. Pregame, many choose to go with high-fashion dress shoes or sneakers. During games, a player can have career-defining moments that get memorialized by the shoes he wore. A player’s in-game sneakers often represent more than athletic performance. Notes can be seen scribbled across the sides, or logos crafted specifically for the player become globally recognizable symbols that represent the growth and influence of the game. In fact, the global aspect of basketball extends to shoes, as several NBA players now endorse Chinese shoe companies.
In this spotlight, we will highlight both the sneakers worn during the game, and the shoes that made the biggest statements during arrivals. As always, keep up with the conversation using #NBAStyle.
James Harden is a known risk taker, and goes all-out with multi-colored studded sneakers, which he pairs with a printed button down.
Buzz is high on the Indiana Pacers for the upcoming season. So it’s only right that they — mainly Gerald Green — take their act above the ground to reflect such:
Generally when people use the term “above the rim,” a visual of a full head above the rim is not what actually happens. This is something you expect to see on Space Jam, not in an empty gym where the rules of gravity are supposed to apply.
Between Green, Blake Griffin and That Guy in Miami, Mr. Calloway might have his work cut out for him this season.
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In one of the most underrated moves of the offseason, the Indiana Pacers snagged Gerald Green and his potential for jaw-dropping theatrics. Against the Timberwolves in preseason action Friday night, he didn’t wait long to scintillate:
Earlier in the game, Paul George reacted rather angrily to being picked:
This is the type of Pacers basketball I can get used to.
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When it comes to windmill alley-oops, Gerald Greenset the bar. But Mavericks forward Brandan Wright’s throwdown against the Trail Blazers last night might evoke some memories:
Not half bad, but now I need to see an amalgam of LeBron James, Green and Wright jump over a defender, catch the alley and windmill it. Way to keep raising the bar fellas.
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