Best Dunk in team history?

[chris_in_pdx]

No way that Walton over Jabbar is the best.

Incorrect. That dunk put Portland on the map in professional sports. It was a signature moment in the utter dismantling of the team with the best record in the league that year.

There's a reason that any Blazer fan worth his salt can recite Schonley's call of it:

"Cheney the rebound. Lucas bats the ball away, keeps it alive! Over for Walton, Lucas with the steal, Walton..... OVER JABBAR!!! OH BABY, HE IS FOULED!!"

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1092432/index.htm

In the years to come it surely will be remembered as the Mountain Man Jam or the V (for Vegetarian) Bomb or the Sky-Is-Falling-Redbeard-Autographed-Screamer. Something like that. But before the explosive dunk shot that Bill Walton put in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's face—the one he threw right down there in the famous goggles—before that moment becomes blown out of proportion, let us consider what it was not.

It was not a signal that a new president of the UCLA Alumni Pivotmen's Association had been chosen. It was not a sign of quick and absolute victory in this new mano a mano duel. Possibly it wasn't even the decisive play in the Portland Trail Blazers' stunning 4-love defeat of the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Western Conference championship. What the shot did was proclaim to the world that Bill Walton has finally arrived on the same plateau as Abdul-Jabbar; that his classically balanced passing and rebounding, his quick shots and outlet bullets, his savage defense and intelligent command of all phases of the game are more than enough to match his adversary's greater offensive powers. The play showed that pro basketball has a brand-new Russell-Chamberlain rivalry to savor.

In the middle of all of this came the play which approximately 78 billion Oregonians and their grandchildren will swear they witnessed long after Walton's red beard is down to his toes. Maurice Lucas started it by missing a jump shot, which he rebounded and threw out to Walton in the foul circle. Walton paused, roared down the lane and flung himself into the air. Abdul-Jabbar went up to meet him somewhere north of reality, where few mortals dare to tread.

Boom! A mountain symphony. Incredibly, all of us survived.

After the smoke had cleared, there was Walton waving his fist at Lucas and flashing that peculiar manic grin. There was Abdul-Jabbar looking around at the scoreboard, the referee, the bench. Anywhere for some help. And everywhere but at Walton.

 

[PapaG]

Walton's dunk over Kareem is the most important dunk in Blazer history. I don't see how any Blazer fan can dispute that, so for some, it is the best regardless of how relatively normal it looks on tape.

Drexler had many dunks better than that one though, in terms of sheer dunking.

 

[chris_in_pdx]

Walton's dunk over Kareem is the most important dunk in Blazer history. I don't see how any Blazer fan can dispute that, so for some, it is the best regardless of how relatively normal it looks on tape.

Drexler had many dunks better than that one though, in terms of sheer dunking.

While I absolutely agree that Drexler was a better athletic dunker than Walton, or perhaps any other Blazer ever, I don't think Drexler ever had a dunk that made such an impact on a game, series, or rivalry. I could count Drexler's dunk on Laimbeer, if it inspired the team to come back to win, which it didn't:

[video=youtube;LyL53sJXBlw]

Or Drexlers' dunk on Bill Cartwright in Game Two of the 92 Finals (@ 4:23):

[video=youtube;LQOcBL7hWIk]

But as great as Drexler was, he never had a dunk that had a bigger impact than Walton's jam over Jabbar.

 

[Denny Crane]

Not a Blazers dunk (kindof related, though!) but one of my favourites due to the players involved;

/thread

 

[1 Eye Jack]

Wish I could find some of the old Bill Ray Bates dunks. That guy through down some monster dunks.