NBA athletes usually make the game of basketball look way easier than it is, but there are always exceptions. One second, let me set the mood.
This hilariously bad 21-second sequence features 2 turnovers, a missed layup, and a blown alley-oop
Are we sure this is actually NBA basketball?
OK, now we’re ready.
I’m trying to decide what moment is my favorite. I think it goes something like this.
4. Robert Covington blowing that alley-oop dunk. That’s just unfortunate — dunks are hard, and occasionally they fail terribly.
3. Hollis Thompson missing that first fast break layup for Philadelphia. Poor dude, it happens. The camera angle changes, so it’s hard to tell exactly how easy an attempt it is — but yeah, he should have made it.
2. Nicolas Batum’s very bad full-court pass attempt that was immediately intercepted. Batum, a capable passer from the forward position, should have known better. C’mon man, don’t give into the back-and-forth rabble!
1. An overly ambitious Spencer Hawes has the ball poked away from him, recovers it in the backcourt, and then tries to salvage the play by putting the ball on the floor. Big men trying and failing miserably at dribbling is one of my favorite things on this earth, to be honest.
I wrote an entire blog post on the three-year anniversary of Chris Kaman’s incredible fast break. They are all so earnest at the start, and so sheepish when it ends poorly. Hawes really should know better, but it’s not his fault — every NBA big man has this urge, and it almost always ends this way.
I hope someone puts this in a time capsule and convinces our great-great-great-grandchildren in 200 years when the NBA is gone that this is what basketball was actually like.
