Monday, May 30th, 2011 at 9:00 am  |  80 responses

LeBron: Dirk’s Fadeaway 2nd Most Unstoppable Shot Ever


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

As the NBA Finals draw ever closer, it’s normal for everyone to start looking at historical angles, and where players’ legacies stand.

LeBron James — who already dealt with his own controversial brush with NBA history last week — says Dirk Nowitzki has one of the most unguardable offensive repertoires that the League has ever seen.

According to LBJ, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s sky hook ranks ahead of Dirk’s insane one-legged fallaway jumper, in terms of difficulty to stop.

From the Sun-Sentinel:

“He is going to make shots. You have to try and make him work on every catch and go from there,” Heat forward LeBron James said. Nowitzki has been creating an impressive highlights reel thus far in the playoffs with his variety of moves, and is averaging 28.4 points per game and shooting .517 percent from the field. “He is throwing everything at guys. He is doing every move in the book,” Heat forward Chris Bosh said. “We are all going to have to take up the challenge and try and guard him.”

Nowitzki’s now famous fading jumper on one leg that helped the Mavs beat the Thunder impressed the Heat. “That is something new. He has always made some awkward shots for a big guy, but that one-legged shot that is pretty much unguardable,” said Heat forward Udonis Haslem, who had success guarding Nowitzki in 2006 when the Heat beat the Mavericks to win the title. “Probably the most unstoppable shot ever is the sky hook. I guess you put Dirk second,” James said. “You have a seven-footer fading away off one leg. There is no one that can block that shot.”

The Miami Heat are going to throw a number of looks at Dirk Nowitzki in the title round, with Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem expected to bear the brunt of the responsibility starting tomorrow night.

Despite limited exposure in the past, LeBron James will also likely get opportunities to slow the big German forward during the series. He’ll receive an up-close and personal look at Dirk’s shot that he admires so much.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older Comments
  • MikeC.

    ^a crossover dribble isn’t a shot.

  • MikeC.

    Unstoppable move? Yes. Shot? No. Age put the clamps on AI’s crossover and he didn’t have enough actual game to hang when his athleticism dipped.

  • Hugo

    shaqs dunk is not a shot

  • hoodsnake

    What about James Worthy’s jumper? That was money. Willis Reed also also couldn’t be stopped by bigger C’s in his prime.

  • JC

    Unstoppable?…..A Ginobili flop….

  • http://twitter.com/hurstysyd Hursty

    as well as everything else that’s been mentioned – Paul Pierce elbow fadeaway jumper. Money.

  • sheedfan

    Sam’s right.

  • KH10

    Kobe’s fadeaway? i seem to remember dude scoring about 60 of those 81 using it, and he has more range than MJ’s.

  • JAY EDWIN

    1.)Jordan’s Fade away
    2.)Shaq’s freight train slammer
    3.)jabbar’s sky hook
    4.)Dirk’s one legged fadeaway

  • @Deknowz

    LeBron has a point, Dirk is a Legit 7 footer who shoots over 50% from the field. He fades off one leg and shoots it with a rainbow arc, that’s like a 12 foot release point from which the balls going almost vertical. The people that can stop jumpers like that haven’t been born yet! It’s only second because the skyhook was done inside 5 feet from the basket from a 7 footer fully extended with crazy wingspan coming from any and every direction, that shot should have been banned! lol

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    JC nailed it! Real talk. You can’t F with the Ginobili flop.

  • mdshuai33

    As far as Sahq’s dunk, who did he victimize with it, really? Vlade Divac and Arvydis Sabonis were the two best centers he played against in his championship runs, the Admiral was too old by then to be considered elite, same with Ewing and Olaujuwan…pretty sure I just spelled that wrong. And it wasn’t unstoppable: remember when Ben Wallace threw his ass to the ground blocking one of those in the 2006 eastern finals? and its not a “shot.”

  • Demigod

    OrangeBoys B.S. is the most unstopable shot :-) Unlike Ginobs Flop which aint a shot. STOP !!! hammertime

  • OvaChicken

    mdshuai33 . Ima throw it out there just in case. Are you on crack son ?

  • http://sohh.com teamplayer65

    Fat round brown coming out of a flesh crown. Wet down.

  • http://sohh.com teamplayer65

    Who does everyone think is going to be Finals MVP regardless of which team wins? My money in on Dwade trying to steal Lebron’s spotlight.

  • http://HomeInspectionMarketingCenter.com Home Inspector Training

    Now the time has come, this is the much awaited match or a rematch from 2006 Finals. I can’t wait to watch this game now.

  • mario taylor

    its a long time now Dirk’s a great player now the ring is the ultimate thing to seal it. i think he is the best player on the planet!

  • Yesse

    Kareem’s shot is probably the most unstoppable shot ever. I guess Dirk would be 3rd. There would also be MJ’s and Kobe’s fadeaway. If Shaq could get the ball down low in his prime, that is a pretty unstoppable situation too.

  • TRIMEGADON

    what about scalabrine’s unseen shot? you cant stop what you cant see…

  • brandon

    how bout ray allens free throw

  • brandon

    ^^
    nobody blocks one of those
    90% of the time they go in!

  • David

    Everyone forgetting hakeem olajuwans ‘dream shake’? that was a nice move. and he was an excellent player. that move was insane still works too

  • rich

    lets get this straight, were not talking about moves, shakes or what not, were talking about an actual shot, right? with that said, kareems sky hook stands alone. todays game/players combine shots w moves, the success of the move often dictates the availability of the shot, kareem didnt require anything else, all he did was get the ball, and turned into the defender, not away,into the sky hook and that was that. the only SHOT that deserves to be in the conversation is well, nothing really.

  • Kyle

    I watch Jordan miss over 50 percent of his fade away jumpers when they counted. Dirk has the most difficult fade away off either leg that has him almost horizontal creating a 7 or 8 inch space between him and his defender. He makes it like it’s a layup. Also, he still tricks defenders into ticky tack fouls after he’s shot it and the shot is money. And now he can just totally fake a pumpfake to get a foul or pump fake, and do a reverse dunk. This is why his go-to shot is the best unless you want to say Kareem’s skyhook was a better one(that’s the only one that’s so difficult go guard.) People talking about Ray Allen don’t realize that he has 3 or 4 illegal screens to get him his open 3, and Reggie Miller was far more deadly. He’d use one screen, stop suddenly and get 3 free throws if the defender messed up, and other times he’d bump off his defender knowing they won’t make the call against him with 2 seconds left against guys like Jordan in playoff games.

  • vin terranova

    Guys r yng…..skry hook, and larry’s step back.

  • Rob Burns

    Um, Jordan’s fade away. Hello! I can count on one had how many times i’ve seen that shot blocked.

  • http://charliechoopdreams charlie c half court hook shot

    I have been working on that type of shot and here it is…you want see it, then here it is…..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY4v3UsAZQo&feature=related………….thanks for watching…..

  • fup duck

    nice to see Lebron acknowledge the Laker great. Kareem is so undervalued by the media

  • 1SLANDBOi

    FREE THROWS are not guardable. No one is jumping at you on the free throw line!

← Older Comments
Advertisement