LOOK: Blazers’ Derrick Jones Jr. misses badly on dunk-of-the-year attempt

#Derrick #Jones #Jr. deserves a bit of leeway when it comes to dunks. #He’s a #Slam #Dunk #Contest winner, after all, and with a nickname like #Airplane #Mode, he can certainly fly. #But there’s a time and a place for big dunks, and a 23-point deficit in the second half isn’t one of them.

#In the third quarter of the #Los #Angeles #Clippers’ blowout victory over the #Portland #Trail #Blazers, #Jones saw an opportunity for a highlight despite his team trailing big. #He took a pass from #Damian #Lillard and soared for the dunk, but got his comeuppance when he failed to finish the slam.

#In fairness to #Jones, he makes a good percentage of the highlight dunks he tries. #He wouldn’t have won a #Dunk #Contest if he hadn’t. #He’s athletic enough to pull plays like this off, and dunk of the year candidates have to come with a high degree of difficulty. #In the famous words of #Michael #Scott (via #Wayne #Gretzky), you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. #Jones went for a memorable dunk and came up laughably short.

#And given the game situation, there’s a bit of karma involved in that. #Yes, such a slam might have ignited some momentum and potentially helped spark a comeback, but realistically, when you’re down 23 points, you just need your shots to go in. #Don’t get fancy. #Don’t seek out highlights. #Just put the ball in the hoop. #Jones didn’t do that here, and it created one of the early season’s funniest lowlights.