L.A. Clippers rookie Blake Griffin won the 2011 All-Star Slam Dunk Contest with this prime example of talent. Well, some would call it talent, I’d call it being gifted by being born a giant.

Griffin leaps over the bonnet of a Kia Optima and slam dunks the ball in the net. All while a gospel choir sings at the side of the court (I don’t know why, either). And this was good enough to win?

I have to say I’m not all that impressed. Granted I don’t know much about basketball but this doesn’t look all that difficult. I reckon most players in the NBA could do exactly the same stunt.

I couldn’t do it because I’m not a giant who gets paid to lob a ball round for a few minutes each week. So don’t bother asking me to record myself leaping over a car and slam-dunking a basketball in a net. I couldn’t and I also couldn’t be bothered, quite frankly.

Sportsmen in general have it so damn easy. They get paid for doing their job and heaped with praise for doing anything slightly above and beyond.

Jordan McCabe is a 12-year-old basketball prodigy who can do more amazing things with a ball than most folks twice his age.

This kid has some serious skills, which see him sinking baskets from anywhere on the court he pleases. But his talents don’t stop there. If a career in the NBA doesn’t work out, he could surely take up a post with the Harlem Globetrotters.

Jordan flawlessly performs trick after trick, each one seemingly more mind-blowing than the last. Oh, and did we mention that he’s also a mean jump roper?

With all of these athletic skills, clearly this kid has a big future ahead of him!

People get injured playing basketball, as well as most other sports, every day, and yet it could never really be classed as news. That is, however, unless it’s the U.S. President on the receiving end.

President Obama loves playing basketball, or at least he used to. Maybe he won’t so much any more, not because he’s now the leader of the United States, but because he recently took an elbow to the face.

Obama was playing some five on five at Fort McNair, Washington, when Rey Decerega, Program Director for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute accidentally struck him in the face.

The President was escorted to hospital by his security staff and given 12 stitches, mostly on his lips. Not an exciting story, granted, but kinda interesting. And I’d hate to be Decerega right now, accident or otherwise.

In real life basketball sucks. No, it really does. It’s boring, monotonous, and pointless until the last five minutes.

However, in video game form the sport comes to life, and NBA 2K11 is the best basketball simulation that has ever been made.

This video is a review from IGN, and it gives a basic overview of all the different elements in the game and modes you can play. All the while showing gameplay footage so you can see and appreciate the visuals on display.

NBA 2K11 isn’t perfect. As with pretty much every video game ever releases there are bugs and issues. But these have been kept to a minimum, with all the things that have been done right making up for any minor annoyances.

This reporter is utterly shocked when he shoots a basket from center court. Just look at his little face light up in surprise.

Let’s face it, basketball is a bit crap. Seriously. It’s just one team scoring in a boring way, then the other team doing the same, and the game decided in the last few minutes. So why not just skip past the monotony and play the last few minutes.

But I digress. This guy was obviously told to shoot from center court at the end of his short report. But I doubt anyone thought he would actually get it in. Least of all him.

Just look at his face – it simultaneously says “WTF” and “Wow, did I just do that.” Yes you did, although I don’t know how.

In life we learn that it ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings. And in a basketball game, it’s not over until the time runs out.

The Croatian team in this video learns it the hard way when they celebrate a tad too early. They believe a basket 0.6 seconds from the end of the game should clinch the victory, and they’re not afraid to show it.

But alas, it’s not to be. The remaining 0.4 seconds gives their European opponents enough time to snatch the win, and break their Croat hearts in the process.

I’ll bet some heads rolled in the locker room after this game!

As a quiet, laid-back, unadventurous type of guy, I love seeing arrogant, cocky douchebags make prats of themselves. And this guy fits the bill perfectly.

This dude thinks he is it, the man, someone we should all look up to. With his shirt off, and “way with the ladies,” he thinks he is God’s gift to us all. But he’s not. He’s nothing, no one, a complete failure.

He claims he can vault four girls and make the dunk. So he lines them up, has a practice run in which he gives the one at the front a cheeky kiss, and then prepares to fly.

Unfortunately, although he clears the first three, the fourth girl gets his crotch right in her face, as he takes her out with his scrotum. He’s embarrassed, she’s gobsmacked, and the rest of us are left laughing at a cocky twat losing his mojo.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Or, as is more befitting of this video, if at first you fail big time, try and pull off an impressive trick. And fail at that as well. And make a fool of yourself and your teammates. And then suffer the humiliation when someone posts a video of it to YouTube.

I’m going to avoid the obvious sexist jokes suggesting this is why women’s sport is rubbish and how it proves why women should stick to housework and cooking. Because all that garbage simply isn’t true.

However, this video does indicate that the coach teaching these girls how to play basketball needs a reality check. There were so many ways that trick could have gone wrong. And it did do!

What’s more, the girl getting the leg up could have knocked all her teeth out on the hard floor and ruined her looks for life. Is scoring a basket really worth the risk of that? I don’t think so somehow.

I used to be a huge Michael Jordan fan when I was a kid. That is, until I realized how big-headed he was. Here’s one of my favorite commercials of him actually admitting his faults.

It’s pretty inspirational, even if you don’t really believe it. At the very least Nike paid him enough money to come off as modest for 30 seconds.

“Practice makes perfect” is a saying we’ve all heard; this commercial merely expands on the concept. It’s been years since this commercial aired, but Michael Jordan is still regarded as the best basketball player in history.

If anything this ad should make you realize that “the greats” aren’t even perfect 100% of the time. That just wouldn’t be human.

He’s been called a ball hog and a douchebag (among other things), and now we’ve got proof on camera. Here you can see Kobe rudely throwing a towel in a fan’s face.

And what’s even more depressing is that the poor lady paid good money to be standing there.

Let me clarify that this move was probably unintentional. After seeing the replay a dozen times it becomes clear that he was reaching for a towel and grabbed two accidentally; then threw the extra away unintentionally hitting the lady’s face.

But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a douchebag ball hog.

Former New Jersey Net Jayson Williams stood today to receive his sentence for fatally shooting a limousine drive back in 2002.

First off, it boggles my mind that it could take an entire eight years for something as serious as a fatal shooting to get fully sorted out in court. He originally went to court in 2004, but not all of the charges were agreed upon by the jury.

Secondly, this guy has killed a man and only has to serve 18 months without parole?

Get an average guy off the street charged for the same things and see what the sentence is then.

It’s got to suck being a basketball mascot. While the cheerleaders are soaking up the applause in their skimpy attire, you’re sweating under a heavy full-body costume. Is it any wonder that the Toronto Raptor decided to take revenge?

In this hilarious clip we see the dinosaur approach one of those pretty blonde things and swallow her whole! With his belly full, he then proceeds to leave the court. At least he didn’t feel like dessert!

Personally though, I think the Raptor has questionable tastes. There’s bound to be a lot more meat on an umpire or coach after all!

Ashton Kutcher has a lot to answer for. If I was this guy I’d sue him for emotional distress after this prank.

This video shows a basketball fan being pranked into believing he’d won $1 million for scoring a half-court shot. He hadn’t, it was merely a way of entertaining the crowd at the Thanksgiving game between the Utah Jazz and the Chicago Bulls.

This isn’t an official Punked prank but it’s clearly inspired by that show. And in the same way I find that show uninspired, unfunny, and at time cruel, so I find this prank the same.

If it’s celebrities being pranked then that’s kind of acceptable. But the victim here is an ordinary guy who for about a minute gets tricked into believing he’s won a million bucks. That’s harsh beyond belief.

Sure, Shaquille O’Neal isn’t the best at free-throws, but when it comes to dunks he’s done some pretty amazing stuff. Here’s a classic clip of him bringing down an entire goal.

Notice how the shot-clock hits his head on the way down. Ouch!

I don’t know how the game could have possibly went on with an incident like this. My guess is that they’d have to re-schedule the game or have a very long intermission.

Whenever anyone has any doubts as to whether Shaq is a good basketball player I always like to show them this clip. It’s pure power.

This video claims to show the world’s longest basketball shot, and I’m not about to argue. In it we see a guy shoot a basket from the stands of Texas’ A&M’s Football Stadium. Incredibly, it lands effortlessly through the hoop far below.

Of course, any time anyone posts anything this incredible online there are doubters. I’d like to believe it’s real, but the jury’s still out.

I think the guy’s jubilant reaction speaks for itself. Apparently he’d failed some 50 times before landing this basket. If I’d been trying to make that shot for that long, I’d probably be pretty excited too!

Guy Dupuy, who is known by his fans as “Easy Jumper,” is committed to being in the 2010 Sprite NBA dunk contest. No, he isn’t an actual NBA player, but he can sure dunk the hell out of a goal.

Here he can be seen doing an incredible between-the-legs, over-a-chair, out-of-a-hand dunk.

Guy Dupuy is asking for your vote in the Sprite Slam Dunk Show Down where 4 dunkers will head to NBA All-Star 2010 to compete in the championships. Already, he is one of the top 10 finalists, but he’s still making viral videos to gain more votes.

As good as Guy Dupuy may be, I just don’t know if he stands a chance against some of his rivals like “The Air Up There.”

If there was an NBA for pool basketball, these guys would be in it for sure.

At first, this video doesn’t seem too special. The very first basket looks impressive for a home movie, but nothing anyone couldn’t do without a bit of practice. When the second basket is made, on the other hand, it’s taken from a 10 foot jump!

As each shot progresses they are done more intricately. Granted, some of them are unnecessarily complicated (like the one at 2:29), but some shots like the one at the 2:20 mark are just insane! One wrong slip-up and there could have been serious injuries.

I guess pool basketball is the new beer pong for the summer.

This video shows LeBron James sinking a 23-foot game winner at the end of the match between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic. The result evens up the Eastern Conference finals and means tomorrow night’s game is all-important.

There have been some impressive buzzer-beating game-winning shots in the past but this one is being talked about the best ever made. It could be even better than Michael Jordan’s famous shot against the Cavaliers in 1989.

I’m not a huge fan of basketball because it feels as though the last few seconds are all that counts. And this performance doesn’t do anything to change my mind on that score – you may as well have just tuned in for the last five minutes.

Having said that, it’s an amazing shot which shows how spectacular a player LeBron James is. Can he better this in the games that are still left to play?

I always knew otters were pretty clever critters, but I had no idea that they were such accomplished athletes! Here the residents of Korea’s Zoo entertain crowds with a thrilling game of one-on-one basketball.

Apparently the otters were trained using shellfish shells thrown in the water. Food is always the most powerful motivator after all!

The otters impress me, but this video’s also got some added bonuses for animal lovers. Not only does a sea lion act as a cheersquad; there’s also a few more swinging on sea lion sized swings underneath the water!

Yep, this is one of those videos that really has it all.

This lucky 7th grade basketball player probably had no idea he would make such an impossible shot. The ball touches the ceiling heating duct, falls along the suspension wires, and makes a swish- all just after the buzz of the clock.

The ref, however, doesn’t count the shot.

At first, I couldn’t believe that the ref could be such a jerk; at the 13 second mark he might as well be telling all of the people in the stands to ’shut up.’ But after calming down and carefully reviewing the facts, I had to side with the ref on this one. After all, a shot like this would be impossible to do on an outdoor court.

As it turns out, the Wildcats (the team in red) won in over time and this play was even featured on ESPN’s SportsCenter. So even though the shot didn’t count, it’ll probably still be a hometown legend for any middle schooler in Pewaukee, WI. No complaints there.