Giannis Completely Detonating On Daniel Gafford Is The Early Season Leader For The Dunk Of The Year

Issac Baldizon. Getty Images.

Look, not much has gone well for the Miami Heat as they've opened their season. They entered tonight's games winless with a -15 point differential. They've been getting the belt by every team they've played, everyone outside Giannis has gotten off to a brutal start, the Bam/Giannis duo looks clunky as hell, it just hasn't been great. There's plenty of basketball to be played so it's not exactly time to panic, but it's certainly not what I would call an ideal start.

You could say that both the team and the fanbase needed a pick me up. Something good to happen just so they can feel something other than dread when it comes to this team. You know what usually does the trick? Giannis sending someone to the center of the Earth with a monster poster dunk. I'm talking the type of poster that makes you say "holy shit" out loud when you see it. 

I'm talking about shit like this

Giphy Images.

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God damn, Giannis fucking killed a guy. Thoughts and prayers to Daniel Gafford, but you got boomed on. As the unofficial but official and self-proclaimed tracker of The Dunk Of The Year, I'd like to present our first candidate. As always, let's go through the criteria.

First, where do we see liftoff take place? For this dunk, we had one foot right in the center of the key. A common launch point for many posters. 

What matters to me is that Giannis' foot was still inside the circle. That's a fairly good distance from the rim, so we're off to a good start.

Next up, it's about meeting at the apex and absorbing the contact. This is where Giannis' dunk starts to get especially ridiculous. Look at where they meet

Giannis is completely outside the restricted circle when these two finally meet. At this point Daniel Gafford had to immediately start to regret his decision. I imagine in that moment he knows what's coming and that things won't be ending well for him.

At this stage, the goal is to maintain your momentum and pretty much eat the contact as if it doesn't exist. Once you do that, it's time to drop the hammer and finish with force. Given the distance Giannis is now going to have to dunk this ball, it was crucial that he have a clean finish. None of that throwing the ball in bullshit. 

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Nailed it. 10 out of 10, no notes. Everything about the finish is perfect. Giannis finished with power, it was a clean dunk with a solid rim grab, everything you could want to finish this play, we got. When I think of worthy candidates for The Dunk Of The Year, this is what I'm picturing. This is just the first of many that I'm sure will be another fantastic race.

What made this specific dunk even sweeter was also the context around it. Earlier in the game, Gafford and Giannis had a bit of a dust up, which led to a classic NBA HOLLLLDDDD MMEEEE BAAAAACKKK moment

So to come around later and absolutely detonate on Gafford like that? 

Giphy Images.

That's about as good as it gets. If you're not going to fight, at least dunk on the dude so hard it goes viral and you become the first victim of the potential Dunk Of The Year. Luckily for Gafford this is only Game 4, so there will be plenty of opportunities for someone to take his place.

In terms of the Heat, let's just hope this isn't the highlight of their season. I know it's early, but they need to start showing signs of life or things are going to get ugly QUICK