From experience:
- Layup if you have the space and time.
- Or a gentle dunk if you have the hops to get up there.
What you want to avoid is going for a power dunk (windmill, tomahawk, etc) and getting rejected by the front or the back of the ring. I smirk every time I see one. I played against a young guy who was on a fast break with all the time in the world. He went for a power dunk, powered it off the back of the rim, I got the rebound coming up near the 3 pt line and passed it up court to my team. He looked a bit embarrassed, I said you should have laid it up and we both laughed.
If you have the hops and just dunk it with both hands - basically just putting/pushing it down through the hoop then it’s actually a higher percentage shot than a layup (sometimes you get it rolling out around the rim) but in a game going for a dunk often takes longer than a layup which gives the defence more time to get to you and if you are trying to dunk right over someone then you are bringing the ball quite close to a defender and a good defender can screw up your shot by getting a couple of fingers as you bring the ball up from your dribble or a solid hand between your downward dunk motion and the hoop - that’s one cold statement block right there.
So I prefer to layup when free and baby hook in traffic (can’t block that old school stuff) but then I’m 58 and haven’t dunked for about 5 years.
Exactly!
And you spend the rest of the game hoping you don’t lose by 2pts, or worse 1 point and you have to face the coach knowing that your ego got the better of you. It’s great when it works out but unless you’re 20 points up, go for the lay up…get the points.