Can't Hardly Wait (Ben McLemore & The Fast Break Dunk That Blew My Mind)

You’ve seen Can’t Hardly Wait, right? If you have (and you’re a twenty-something reading a comedy-oriented basketball blog, so I suspect you have), then you probably remember the flashback scene. You know, the scene where innocent, boobalicious transfer student Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) saunters into Preston's (Whoever Plays Prestons's) freshman home room? The scene that makes his brain explode? The scene that  changes the way he looks at all women? That scene?

Well, as a basketball fan, that’s how I felt when I saw this.

Because, THAT DUNK! THAT CRAZY, HYPNOTIC, REWIND-THE-DVR DUNK!

People who have never played basketball may look at this video and think, “I don't get it? These guys dunk all the time, right?” BUT, if you have any sense whatsoever of what that took, at this point, you’re only hoping that you’ll eventually be able to remove your jaw from the floor. It's like Jennifer Love Hewitt just walked into your home room, right??

Now, before we talk about grace and beauty and all that nonsense, let me be clear: Ben McLemore puts up numbers. Great numbers, actually. More-than-16-points-a-night-on-barely-ten-shots kinds of numbers. 50/43/87-shooting-splits kinds of numbers. Two-missed-free-throws-shy-of-going-50/40/90-at-age-19 kinds of numbers. And the numbers don't come close to doing him justice.

Because, with Ben McLemore, it really is about the grace and the beauty and all that nonsense.

What happens between the :02 and :04 mark of this clip is as athletic an action as any human can produce in a two second span. In 9,999 out of 10,000 instances, this play turns out different. It turns out to be two dribbles and a foul. Or it turns out to be finger roll. Or it turns out that they fall over their own two feet. BUT IT DOESN'T TURN OUT A DUNK!

For Ben, it does. Because 6'5" Ben, in a gazelle-like sprint, snatches the ball off his rear knee. Because Ben never so much as hints at a broken stride. Because he takes two giant, effortless hops, and explodes off the gym floor like the hardwood is his own private Cape Canaveral. Because he can stretch the ball out in his right hand to preview his kill, find a second engine to heighten his launch, then hammer home a two-handed dunk.

Shoulder shrug. Retreat back on D. No big deal.

If tonight was Melissa Joan Hart's graduation party, I would tell Ben how I feel. But, for now, I’m just gonna go watch that clip 1,000 more times. Can't hardly wait.