Russell Westbrook’s got the greatest bounce ever on a missed dunk
Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook is one of those players who makes the phrase “attacking the rim” seem literal, not just a cute way of saying a guy likes to gets to the basket. He drives and finishes with intensity that only ever really gets challenged by LeBron James, who doesn’t match Westbrook’s singular consistency in this area. If anything, his problem is that he sometimes goes too strong, trying to do something with too much force when a little bit of touch is required.
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That is perhaps what happened to the Thunder guard during a bizarre play in the second quarter of Friday night’s game against the visiting Golden State Warriors. With roughly 5:18 left in the period, Westbrook made a cut to the basket in the early offense and took a pass from Kevin Durant with an open lane to to the hoop. Draymond Green challenged the dunk, but Westbrook powered through the contact (without a foul) to finish with authority. Unfortunately for him, he missed and saw the ball carom very, very high off the rim. That’s when things got weird:
Most missed dunks result in very long rebounds, so it’s hard to explain exactly what happened here. Regardless, if anyone could end up with a basket like this one, it’s Westbrook. Weird things happen when a guy brings so much force to the rim.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
