5. Pelicans: Zion Williamson punishes the Pistons
Zion’s next dunk comes against the Detroit Pistons.
Williamson was a monster on this night. He had 32 points against Detroit and all of his made baskets came at the rim. There’s little doubt that Williamson imposes his will against every NBA team at this point and, like JJ Redick recently said, he’s one of the only players in the league that can constantly get to his go-to shot and not be stopped.
Williamson had multiple memorable dunks against the Pistons. I remember a lob from Lonzo Ball, for example, that is similar to the dunk I listed previously where Williamson was assisted by Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
Here, Williamson cuts hard to the basket and you know what comes next. Antonio Daniels is almost begging the Pistons to not be so irresponsible. “Watch out, watch out,” he exclaims as Williamson races down the court.
Williamson receives the pass from Steven Adams and rises for the one-handed tomahawk slam. If there were fans in the stands, this would be a “get your phone out and take a picture because you don’t want to miss this” moment.
In fact, if you pause the dunk at just the right time, you’ll see Williamson get lit up by a camera flash.
4. Double clutch jam
The tomahawk versus Detroit probably looked a bit more spectacular, but I think this next dunk has a higher degree of difficulty.
The New Orleans Pelicans might have lost their game against the Milwaukee Bucks in February, but Williamson certainly made a statement. He went toe-to-toe with reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, finishing with 34 points to the Greek Freak’s 38.
Williamson and Antetokounmpo’s paths will cross again this Sunday at the all-star game. Williamson is on Team Durant as a reserve, while the Bucks’ franchise star will be a starter on Team LeBron.
In this play, Williamson and Lonzo Ball run a pick-and-roll, which is something that has gone well for the Pels this season. Williamson gets the pocket pass from Ball and then finishes through Brook Lopez with the double clutch dunk.
This is tough to pull off simply because of the physics and then because Williamson is doing this to Lopez, a legit 7-footer. The announcers can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the dunk.