Video: Warriors' Harrison Barnes dunks on Raptors' Aaron Gray
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By Ben Golliver
Warriors forward Harrison Barnes officially reached "capable of detonating at any moment" status thanks to his second highlight reel dunk in 48 hours.
On Saturday, Barnes went up and overBucks forward Ersan Ilyasova to throw down a poster that set off the Warriors' bench. He was back at it during the final minute of Golden State's 114-102 win over Toronto on Monday night, driving baseline to flush over Raptors center Aaron Gray.
The rookie out of UNC attacks the basket so ferociously that getting in the way can lead to hazardous results. On this play, Barnes drew an and-one foul and crashed back to the court in somewhat scary fashion. The San Jose Mercury News reported that he will have his left calf examined on Tuesday after the fall.
After the game, Barnes wrote on Twitter: "Note to self: take off with two feet."
That's a solid, practical tip for all you posterizers out there looking to avoid injury and handle mid-air collisions. Barnes' one-footed take-off did leave him more exposed to the contact from Gray, which was a bit unexpected given that Golden State held a nine-point lead with just one minute remaining in regulation.
Gray can't really be blamed for so aggressively protecting the rim though. After all, he was in the midst of the greatest game of his life, scoring a career-high 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
David Lee led the Warriors with 21 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Andrew Bogut had 12 points and eight rebounds in his return from an extended absence following ankle surgery. Barnes added 14 points, five rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes.
The Warriors improved to 27-17 with the win. The Raptors fell to 16-29 with the loss.
Barnes first made his name as an NBA high-flyer earlier this year when he dunked hard over Nikola Pekovic.
Some of this season’s other great dunks: Nick Young on Larry Sanders, Kevin Durant over Marcin Gortat,Gerald Henderson over Dwight Howard, Byron Mullens over LaMarcus Aldridge, and Jeff Green over Al Jefferson.
