Coby White doesn’t dunk much. But when he does, he makes it count.
The Chicago Bulls guard threw down one of the best dunks of the NBA season on Monday night with a dagger poster over the outstretched arms of none other than Victor Wembanyama. The dunk capped a fantastic final minute for White, who beat Wembanyama for a go-ahead bucket just seconds earlier to help secure a 114-110 Chicago win over the San Antonio Spurs.
The Bulls outscored the Spurs 32-15 in the game’s final quarter as Chicago rallied from a 79-60 second-half deficit. After the Bulls trailed 97-82 early in the fourth quarter, White gave Chicago its first lead of the game by beating Wembanyama with 47.1 seconds remaining.
White found himself one-on-one with Wembanyama guarding him near the 3-point line after a screen. He was not fazed by the 7-foot-4 favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year. An athletic, 6-5 guard, White exploited the perimeter mismatch and took Wembanyama to the hole for a scoop-and-score layup over Wembanyama’s outstretched right hand.
The bucket gave Chicago a 111-110 lead. On Chicago’s next possession, White lowered the boom.
This time, he freed himself from Jeremy Sochan with a pump fake from the wing and drove uncovered to the rim. Wembanyama rolled over for an effort at a help-side block. But it was to no avail. White hammered the ball through the hoop over a helpless Wembanyama.
The dunk was just White’s second of the season. It extended Chicago’s lead to 113-10 with 15.9 seconds remaining, and the Spurs didn’t score again. White finished the game with 23 points, four assists and four steals — and two huge buckets over Wembanyama to secure the Bulls win.
“We had a running joke like, somebody has to try [to dunk on Wembanyama],” said Zach LaVine, who finished just shy of a triple-double with 35 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. “I was trying to but it didn’t work out. So I’m happy and I’m a little envious because Coby has two dunks on the year. One of them is on Wemby. So, kudos.”
And this wasn’t an off night for Wembanyama. He had one of the best defensive nights of his breakout second season while tallying 23 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks. He just had nothing for White in crunch time.
