The Top 100 Things About the 2013-14 NBA Season: 40-21
With the draft wrapped up and Summer League already less than a week away, we decided that it's time for one last extended look at the moments that defined everything that was great about the NBA during the 2013-14 season. Join Andrew Unterberger over the next week as he counts down his list of the 100 best things about the year that was in the Association, including all of the best games, highlights, performances, images, memes, bloopers and other ephemera that made last season such a joy to follow.
Check out Nos. 100-81 here.
Check out Nos. 80-61 here.
Check out Nos. 60-41 here.
40. Xavier Henry over Jeff Withey
The resurrection of Xavier Henry was one of the season's better early subplots--he even got a Jonathan Abrams profile out of it--but we'd probably have forgotten about it altogether if not for this ridiculous posterization. We'd almost certainly have forgotten about the existence of Jeff Withey as well, though he very well might have preferred it that way.
39. Nick Young's three-point walk-off miss
If you were told there was a YouTube video entitled "[NBA Player] celebrates three-point miss," how many guesses would you need? If the answer is more than two or three, you should've paid more attention to the latest Year of the Swaggy.
38. Isaiah Austin at the draft
A night full of franchise-altering draft choices and behind-the-scenes trade and free agency drama was stolen by a guy who'll never set foot on an NBA floor. Kudos to the new commish for making it so.
37. Josh McRoberts over Birdman in the playoffs
"They got to give him FOUR points for that." Fly high, Free Bird. Maybe a couple inches higher next time.
36. Kyle Lowry's self-portrait
Pretty close! Shoulders could stand to be a little broader though.
35. SodaGate
The first glimpse into Jason Kidd's true Machiavellian nature as a head coach may have come courtesy of Tyshawn Taylor and some diet soft drink. If this is the primary legacy he leaves in Brooklyn on the way to his Milwaukee takeover, it is at least not a totally unrepresentative one.
34. Thunder vs. Grizzlies Games 2 and 3
The four-point plays. Oh, the four-point plays.
33. Terrence Ross 51
A player who averages 8.7 PPG for his career goes over the half-century mark...and this wasn't even the high point of the Raptors' season?? High times up north, indeed.
32. Corey Brewer 51
Perhaps the most incredible thing about the 2013-14 NBA season was that Terrence Ross had a 51-point game, and he wasn't even close to the most random-ass player to go off for 51 this year. By the way, in case you forgot, this game was won by the Wolves on a Gorgui Dieng fadeaway putback. April basketball, man.
31. The Raps-Wizards Triple OT Game
For my money, the most purely entertaining game of the regular season, and an obvious frontrunner for "Best Thursday Night game ever to not be one of the TNT national games." (The actual TNT games that night? A 26-point Heat drubbing of the Knicks and a 23-point win for the Nets over the Nuggets. Whoops.) Still hope we get these two teams in the playoffs sometime soon.
30. Arne Duncan at the All-Star Celebrity Game
Not every aspiring young politico watched Arne Duncan hoop that day, but everyone that did picked up a basketball and spent countless hours trying to perfect their over-the-shoulder no-look passing out of the post.
29. LeBron's 49 against the Nets in the playoffs
Missed that last garbage free throw to make it an even 50, though. CHOKER.
28. JJ Hickson wrecking balls Marvin Williams
Proving once again that it's not a true posterization unless the ball also hits your lifeless body while you're lying on the ground, bloody and defeated.
27. Russell Westbrook's cocked-back dunk against the Spurs
The only way this dunk could have been more explosive is if the net (or Westbrook himself) combusted into a million pieces upon consummation. Both of which I was legitimately afraid of happening, by the way.
26. Damian Lillard's way-out dagger three against the Cavs
The Cavs should've been forced to change the mid-court "C" to an "L" after this one. Not the last Damian Lillard buzzer-beater to come on this list, you may not be all that surprised to learn!
25. Drake Night
At this point, can you even remember a time before Drake was intimately involved with the happenings of the Association? I choose not to, anyway.
24. The Andre Iguodala Bounce Pass
And you just had to do it against the Sixers, didn't you, 'Dre? Jerkface.
23. Nets-Raptors, Game Seven
The most exciting game either the Nets or Raptors franchises have been involved with for some time, though you can bet that one of them views it more fondly than the other. And if that Paul Pierce block ends up being the final enduring memory of Kyle Lowry in a Raptors uniform...
22. Paul George's 360-degree dunk
Yes, it was only five months ago that the Pacers' swag was in such a stratosphere that their MVP-candidate stars were breaking out dunk-contest-type slams in garbage-time fourth quarters of blowouts of Western Conference contenders. Not pictured: The looming specters of Andrew Bynum and Evan Turner, cackling evilly and plotting to ruin everything.
21. Joakim Noah angry at Tony Snell for not body-bumping him properly
Nothing worse than when you're feeling the music and your teammates don't want to mosh with you, right? Jack White understands.