Remember last week when 50-year old Michael Jordan dunked and everyone went crazy. Well it seems Dr. J—more formally known as Julius Erving—is trying to do him one better. Or should I say 13-years better.
Now, we all know Dr. J is still smooth—if you’ve ever seen his commercials you know what I’m talking about. However, the fact that he’s still able to dunk—at age 63—is a bit surprising.
Here’s the evidence:
There are going to be some who comment and say, “Aww that’s nothing, he barely got over the rim,” or “Michael Jordan’s was way better because he dunked with ease.”
(YouTube: Baldur H. Icelandic NBA fan)
However, ladies and gentleman let’s keep two things in mind:
No. 1 – Julius Erving is only an inch taller than Jordan.
No. 2 – Julius Erving is 63 and 13-years older than Jordan.
It is not as if Dr. J had an enormous height advantage over Jordan and he barely had to get off the ground to dunk the ball. There was still a decent amount of jumping involved in the dunk.
Also, by age 63 most human-being don’t have well functioning knees. It’s amazing that Erving was able to get off the floor that high in the first place, let alone dunk the ball.
Nevertheless both dunks are impressive and I digress.
Guys like Dr. J. and Michael Jordan helped make dunking a basketball one of the most exciting plays in all of sports. They both pulled off the free-throw line dunk (Dr. J. patented it and M.J. simply made it better.) They both also pulled off some of the greatest dunks in basketball history as seen below:
Without Jordan and Erving—both Hall-of-Famers—the NBA may not be the great combination of flash and skill it is today.
