The Raptors have been wearing jerseys commemorating Vince Carter’s thrilling slam dunk contest win 20 years ago at select games this season. It turns out Monday’s game against Washington would have been an ideal one to sport the between-the-legs dinosaur dunk specials. Alas they did not, but three Raptors threw down three of the best slams of the season during the win.
There was some argument in a jovial post-game locker room about which of the dunks was the best. A powerful Scottie Barnes rim-rocker was the clear No. 3 choice, even though it would have been tops for many contests.
The battle was between an “on your head” fourth quarter posterization by Canadian A.J. Lawson, capping his career-game, which saw him score 32 points, and an emphatic one-handed putback dunk by backup point guard Jamal Shead.
Lawson is 6-foot-7, Shead is listed as 6-feet (and teammate Immanuel Quickley joked he was 5-foot-9 on Instagram with a “99 driving dunk rating (on NBA2K”) while re-posting the dunk after the game. While the banter seemed to indicate Lawson had the nicer aerial move, Shead’s element of surprise won the day.
“I gotta give it to ’Mal. Just because I’ve seen A.J. dunk on people before,” said RJ Barrett when asked to choose. “I haven’t even seen ’Mal dunk really, so I have to give it to Jamal.”
Lawson chimed in at that point praising Shead’s vertical, but wasn’t asked to pick between his own dunk or Shead’s.
Shead reminded the remaining players in the locker room that he’d dunked before this season, against the Los Angeles Lakers, but the other Raptors weren’t having it, telling the rookie it “doesn’t count” because he kind of just dropped in the ball. Shead’s counter was he was way over the rim and, at his size, it was impressive how high he got up.
Barrett was asked if he really hadn’t seen Shead dunk before, even at practice. “No, not really, maybe once (but) not like that,” he said with a smile.
Basketball-reference.com actually credits Shead with a third dunk this season, but even he didn’t sure what they were referring to.
Quickley just threw down his first dunk of the year one game earlier and, before that, few could remember the last time a Raptors point guard had jammed. Kyle Lowry (aside from an unexpected putback in an all-star game) certainly wasn’t going above the rim, and neither were Fred VanVleet, Malachi Flynn or Dennis Schroder.
The point is, Shead’s jam was a rarity. Point guards who live up in the air like Ja Morant are few and far between. Shead said he’d try to dunk once a month or so, saying it takes a tonne of energy to do it at his size. Given the pace he plays at and his aggressiveness at both ends of the floor, it makes sense not to waste anything showing off for his teammates or the fans, no matter how happy it made everyone, even his head coach.
“I was caught off-guard with that one as well, I did not see that coming,” said Darko Rajakovic. “Wow, that was big-time play, big, crucial moment.”
AROUND THE RIM
Toronto will be short-handed again for Wednesday’s home game against Nick Nurse’s Philadelphia 76ers, who have problems of their own (no Joel Embiid, Paul George or Eric Gordon, likely no Tyrese Maxey, maybe no Kelly Oubre Jr. or Andre Drummond, but it’s possible Lowry returns in his second home). Quickley will be rested, Barrett is out for personal reasons, Gradey Dick and Ja’Kobe Walter are injured, along with rookie Jonathan Mogbo and veteran Brandon Ingram, star forward Scottie Barnes is questionable with a right-hand issue and backup wing Ochai Agbaji is doubtful as he recovers from a left-ankle sprain.
The Raptors, Sixers and Brooklyn Nets moved into a three-way tie with 22 wins on Monday, though Toronto has played one more game, so by percentage points, is worst in the tanking race. Philadelphia only keeps its first-round pick if it finishes the lottery in the top six. Otherwise, Oklahoma City gets in from a disastrous 2020 salary dump by the 76ers.