NBA HIGHLIGHTS / EERSTE KWART SEIZOEN '17-'18: NBA's annual Top Plays Theatre

Deze rubriek kende ik nog niet. Is een hele mooie..!

(Nov. 30) -- It’s the first quarter mark of the NBA season and the top plays we’ve witnessed so far are mounting up. Every night we categorize the best plays of the day with our Top 5 or Top 10 countdowns (number depends on the slate of games). Well, it’s now time for the return of our annual Top Plays Theatre, a running list throughout the season that ranks the best plays 1-10.
Stunning jams, wild crossovers, amazing dimes and unbelievable game-winners will find their way onto our countdown if it’s worthy. Last season, Russell Westbrook’s buzzer-beater during a record-setting night in Denver finished as the No. 1 spot. Our first ranking this season starts off with another game-winner between two Northwest division foes, this time against Westbrook and OKC.
* * *

1. Wiggins For The Win

‘Carmelo In The Clutch’ was almost the headline. Instead, insert Andrew Wiggins, who caught the inbounds pass with 4.6 seconds left, traveled just past mid-court and pulled up for the deep buzzer-beating jumper.

0:55

2. Portrait Mode

NBA.com’s Dunk HQ has a variety of scintillating dunks ranked. Typically, the style of slams we feature here at TPT are of the posterizing genre. The best one yet is courtesy of James Johnson. Victor Oladipo was a helpless victim and should hold his teammate accountable for biting on that pump fake. Nonetheless, say cheese!

0:33

 

3. Griffin Over Gobert

Blake Griffin showed no regard for last year’s Kia Defensive Player of the Year contender Rudy Gobert, throwing down a massive one-handed facial just days after dunking over Julius Randle with pure ease (stay tuned).

0:23

 

4. Lost 'Em

Kyrie Irving turned double coverage into a wide-open basket. It doesn’t take some advanced metric by 100 possessions or per 48 minutes to know who has the best handles in the league.

0:19

 

5. Barnes Beats Buzzer

Harrison Barnes needed just 0.5 seconds to have his prayer answered and bank in a victory. Horry Scale alert.

0:31

 

6. Dame Does It Again

The length of Brandon Ingram simply wasn’t enough to prevent Dame from his reclaiming his Time. Kudos to TrailBlazers.com for providing a package of Damian Lillard’s clutch moments -- becoming hard to track at this point.

0:40

 

7. Smart Find To Semi

A nice assist is always welcome in the ranking. Tacking on an even better finish certainly elevates all cases. Marcus Smart threw a no-look, overhead pass in the middle of two defenders with Semi Ojeleye connecting on a high-arching reverse layup while being fouled.

0:19

 

8. Not So Smart

Tables turned one week later for Marcus Smart. So did the clock for Andre Iguodala, who went back in time and threw down a monster transition hammer.

0:21

 

9. Freakish Things

While offense begets highlights, great defense is always approved on Top Plays Theatre applications. This play -- or sequence, rather -- was a clutch effort all around from Giannis Antetokounmpo. In a span of 10 seconds, the Greek Freak gave his team a stop, the lead and another stop to secure a victory. The series was similar to Kawhi Leonard’s clutch shot-and-block against Houston last season, which earned a spot in TPT’s ranking at the time.

1:01

 

10. Another Griffin Appearance 

The other aforementioned Griffin dunk is here for your viewing. If Griffin is the type to frequently rotate lock screens on his cellular device, this photograph should have been considered.

0:11