The Miami Heat got absolutely crushed by the Toronto Raptors on Sunday afternoon, despite the fact that the Raptors were playing without Kawhi Leonard. But even though they lost by 21 points, suffering a crucial defeat in their race for one of the final playoff spots in the East, the Heat did make the play of the day -- not only in this game, but in the entire league on Sunday. And really, that's what matters most, right?
Specifically, Derrick Jones Jr. made the play, a breathtaking alley-oop that technically wasn't even a dunk because he actually threw the ball into the basket.
With just a few minutes left in the game, players on both teams were pretty much going through the motions, but not Jones. Out on the fastbreak with Bam Adebayo, he called for a lob, and got the type of pass you might expect from a center. As it turned out though, Adebayo's off-line pass only made the play more exciting. Jones climbed the ladder and caught the pass with one hand, then whipped it into the basket because he was still too far away to dunk the ball.
Let's check in on his teammates after the play.
Jones' teammates couldn't believe his play
Yep, seems about right.
And now for a screenshot of Jones in mid-air that makes it look like he was participating in one of those trampoline dunk routines that teams do during timeouts and quarter breaks.
Jones defied gravity on this play
Unbelievable.
In case it wasn't clear before, now you know why Jones was invited to participate in the Dunk Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend in 2017 despite the fact he was primarily playing in the D-League at the time.
