The Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls haven’t exactly played great basketball overall this year; the Bulls were 20-39 heading into Monday’s road game against the Nets, who were 19-41.
But both teams have had some highlight-reel moments, and Brooklyn rookie Jarrett Allen definitely delivered one with a thunderous dunk on a fellow rookie, Chicago’s Lauri Markannen:
https://twitter.com/SBNation/status/968308419408093184
Allen’s dunk led to some excellent commentary from announcers Ian Eagle and Sarah Kustok, such as “That’s a grown man’s move!” and “The finish over The Finnish!” And it continued what’s been a pretty good year for the 22nd-overall pick, who’s averaging 7.6 points and 5.1 rebounds in just 18.4 minutes per game.
Of course, Markkanen (the seventh overall pick) is averaging 14.8 points and 7.7 rebounds, so he’s having a nice year of his own, but that’s coming with much more playing time (30.3 minutes per game), and Allen is ahead in many efficiency metrics (such as win shares per 48 minutes, where he was fifth amongst rookies as of Friday). And Allen definitely won this particular battle.
[SB Nation on Twitter]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.