Crawford took the ball from the backcourt and charged down like a dragon, unleashing a two-handed slam dunk as soon as he reached the frontcourt!
That instant set FedEx Forum ablaze.
The Grizzlies’ bench was boiling over with excitement, and Hansen stood up to applaud Crawford.
He now better understood what Battier had said.
Some people try to showcase their team spirit by putting up near triple-doubles or even triple-doubles, but that requires a lot of ball handling, and to some extent, it’s like sucking the blood out of their teammates.
A true team player, like Battier, strives to help every member of the team perform at their best.
At the end of the quarter, the Grizzlies led 26 to 23.
In the second quarter, the Heat Team made no lineup changes, while the Grizzlies continued their rotation, with Jason Williams coming on to replace Little Gasol.
For a stretch, neither side had a big center on the court.
This gave James the opportunity—he broke through Young and charged the paint, soaring over Johnson to finish with a signature tomahawk dunk.
After scoring, James faced the camera and flexed his biceps in a characteristic celebratory gesture.
It had to be said, his physical fitness was truly exceptional; in just this half-quarter, he was already unaffected by the blow he’d taken earlier.
The Grizzlies’ offensive focus on the court was still on Crawford.
Crawford took advantage of Battier’s pick and roll to mismatch against Jones, and he blew past his defender in one step.
Though his ball handling wasn’t the best, his physical prowess was impressive, especially his speed off the first step.
After getting past Jones, with Johnson blocking Haslem, only the basket remained in front of him.
He soared into the air ready to bring down a one-handed slam.
But in that moment, a figure came flying in from the side.
Time can erase everything. After Hansen unleashed that big move earlier, James had been caught in a media whirlwind, but by now, people had started to forget.
But James hadn’t forgotten—Crawford, the young man who had sneakily dunked over him back then.
That’s right, it wasn’t a straightforward dunk over him at all; it was just a sneaky move when he wasn’t paying attention!
He couldn’t handle Hansen, but he thought he could deal with a small-timer like you?
However, he quickly realized he had underestimated Crawford.
Previously, Crawford’s dunk did indeed involve suddenly leaping up, catching people off guard, but that wasn’t his limit.
Especially after two years had passed, and Crawford had entered NBA training, his physical talent had been further developed.
Seeing James fly towards him mid-air, Crawford didn’t dodge but instead sped up his own aerial motion while turning his body to the side.
He slammed the ball hard into the basket with one hand, leaning his body at an angle.
James’ body flew past him, becoming a perfect backdrop.
Silence fell over the crowd, as most fans didn’t grasp what had happened at first.
But the next second, the sound of the fans’ roaring engulfed FedEx Forum.
Crawford had dunked over James!
And this time, it wasn’t on a practice court—it was in a game! The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽
Crawford, landing with a flushed face, excitedly pounded his chest and roared.
The "Dunkgate" scandal had caused him much slander, especially with the previous events resurfacing, which overwhelmed him.
That was also why, upon joining the Grizzlies, he had become known as a troublemaker—he wanted to prove himself.
And nothing could be sweeter than the move he had just pulled off!
Hansen too, now on his feet, waved a towel for Crawford, shouting loudly.
When he saw James coming over for the block, he thought Crawford was going to be embarrassed, given that James’ chase-down block ability was historically great.
But clearly, they had all underestimated Crawford, or rather, Crawford’s competitive spirit.
Every NBA player is the Jordan of their own story.
And that dunk would probably hit the trending searches again.
It reminded him of his early days with the Cavaliers, sitting on a plane with Malone, heading to Las Vegas.
Indeed, all encounters are reunions after a long separation.