Happy Birthday LeBron James

The NBA has kindly put together a 30 best plays of LeBron James compilation to commemorate his 30th birthday.

However, if you want a more comprehensive highlight package of his Cleveland day, we recommend checking out this 10 minute highlight reel from The Score.

R.I.P. Court Cuts.

From Chris Jent and the Leaner, happy birthday LeBron.

LeBron James featuring Chris Jent

(December 30, 2009)

The Return of the King

Card of the Week: LeBron James vs Trevor Ariza

This is almost encroaching on "Who Dunked It Better?" territory, but we're running this as Card of the Week out of courtesy to the fine men and women of Upper Deck.

It is not often that we are forced to choose between LeBron's iconic first game dunk and Trevor Ariza's shoes.

NB: Ariza's highlights from his time in New York include some very large dunks.

NBA Finals 2014 prediction in GIF form

Though we want to see a Spurs victory, the Heat will three-peat in 6. The reason is LeBron James.

LeBron James blocks Brent Barry
(December 11, 2004)

For the record the block didn't count, foul on Snow. Bones made one of two.

M.A.S.K.

For the record, there are three masks you need to concern yourself with.

1. This one.

2. John Masks

3. Oscar Robertson (February 24, 1967)

Who Dunked It Better? LeBron "I'd Win" James vs Himself

        April 14, 2004    vs   February 11, 2014

Just enter.

Can We Get Much Higher?

LeBron gets way up on a feed from Super Nintendo Chalmers and Beasley, a man who knows a thing or two about getting high, indicates to what extent.

Card of the Week: Tim Thomas ft. the Karl Malone "Special Delivery" Dunk

The other night against the Thunder, Quincy Miller broke out what we consider to be the most pedestrian signature dunk in NBA history, the Karl Malone "Special Delivery".

We re-visited a Ball Is Life mixtape to find that Quincy has been doing this for a while.

However, over the past twenty years there have been a few other players to have paid homage to this dunk, and we thank Quincy for providing the inspiration behind this edition of Card of the Week.

TIM THOMAS. While you shudder, the double-headband donning 6'10 forward was an explosive dunker when he felt like it, particularly during his younger days as a Sixer and Buck. His 1997-98 Flair Showcase card has him in full Special Delivery mode albeit with the palm of his left hand not quite cupping the rear of his cranium.

On the subject of Tim Thomas, special mention must go to The Grand Archives, who has shown our man a lot of love on his exceptionally curated basketball Tumblr.

Thomas aside, the greatest player to ever execute this dunk in an NBA game is none other than the King himself back on December 9, 2008:

The story does not end here though. At the height of his powers in the early 90s, Scottie Pippen pulled out the Special Delivery while Malone was actually still doing the dunk himself. We suspect this particular effort may not fall into the "imitation is the highest form of flattery" category.

But like all good Card of the Week entries, this is a cautionary tale. You best have a clear runway if you are going to attempt any form of fast break showboating. In our opinion, this is the greatest chase-down block by Hakeem Olajuwon during his stellar career. And he's had a few.

UPDATE

Since we ran this piece, a number of other examples have been submitted by numerous members of our extended family, including efforts by the Dank Brothers, Blake and DeAndre Griffin:

Even Shawn Kemp, the swaggiest dunker this side of Ricky Davis indulged in a little Mailman action for the enjoyment of Vincent Askew.

We can't let this go without featuring this incredible homage by none other than Eric Montross, in high school no less. 

If you know what film this screenshot is taken from we'll send you on an all expenses paid dinner with Eric. He is a good man.

EPILOGUE

Et tu, Lamar?

The King's Birthday

 

Happy Birthday LeBron. 

Thank you for a decade of basketball excellence.

Who Dunked It Better? LeBron James vs Sean Elliott

Against the hot shooting Hawks, LeBron James punctuated a game-changing two minute flurry at the end of the fourth with a monstrous dunk over Paul Milsap.

In an excuse to dig up a twenty year old gem, we compare LeBron's effort against that of Sean Elliott, who caught a boost from Vlade Divac on his way to this impressive finish:

Given that LeBron (1) did this with 15 seconds to go in a tight game; (2) steamrolled the dude who was having a career night from beyond the arc; and (3) isn't an overly biased Spurs commentator, he gets our nod.