NBA players might make alley-oops look easy. But the truth is that everything has to go right in order for them to pull one off successfully. The passer has to throw the perfect lob or, at the very least, a lob that's in the vicinity of a teammate. The dunker has to be able to catch the ball and control it long enough to slam it home. And then, of course, there are those pesky defenders, who have to be dealt with accordingly by the guy trying to bring down the house. But when all three of those things take place and a player throws down a dunk off an alley-oop, the result is simply amazing. There's nothing that gets an NBA crowd energized quite like an alley-oop dunk.
Over the years, the alley-oop has played a part in some of the biggest plays in NBA history. Bill Walton's back-to-back alley-oops during Game 3 of the 1977 NBA Finals come to mind. So does the monster alley-oop jam that Shaquille O'Neal threw down during Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals. And don't even get us started on DeAndre Jordan's baptism of Brandon Knight last year! So with those incredible dunks in mind, here are The Greatest Alley-Oops in NBA History...
20. Derrick Williams Finishes With a Dunk Fit for a King
19. Isiah Thomas Uses a Bounce Pass
18. The Reign Man Throws it Down
17. Vince Carter Is Half Man, Half Amazing
16. Lamar Odom Goes Behind-the-Back to Darius Miles
15. Russell Westbrook Goes to War Against the Warriors
14. Michael Jordan Catches Air Against the Knicks
13. Kobe Bryant Splits the Double Team
12. LeBron James Skies Over John Lucas III
11. Gerald Green Kisses the Rim
10. Bill Walton Goes Back-to-Back
9. Vince Carter Does a Trick for the Magic
8. Vince Carter Throws an Alley-Oop to Himself
7. Dwight Howard Catches Jrue Holiday Slipping
6. Kobe Feeds Shaq
5. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James Stay Connected
Tracy McGrady Puts on a One-Man show
3. Blake Griffin Makes It Look Easy
2. LeBron James Jumps Over a "Jet"
1. DeAndre Jordan Baptizes Brandon Knight
