Danny Green dunking over Allen Crabbe: A brief oral history

LOS ANGELES — Undoubtedly the highlight of the night as the Los Angeles Lakers took down the Atlanta Hawks, 122-101, was Danny Green dunking all over Allen Crabbe while following a miss from LeBron James. The Lakers broadcast went berserk, as did Green’s teammates and everyone on Twitter:

Seriously. Look at Quinn Cook, Jared Dudley and Avery Bradley:

Dwight Howard looks like he had to physically grab his own face to keep it from melting off of his body:

Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy had to hug someone out of an apparent belief that a dunk from Green must mean the rapture is imminent:

Their surprise is understandable. The dunk was just the 48th of Green’s 11-year career. So with all that context in mind, after the game, we in the media asked the Lakers for their reactions to Green’s aerial acrobatics.

Here is a lightly edited account of what they had to say about what they saw in the moment:

Danny Green: ”I don’t remember, honestly I blacked out.”

Frank Vogel: “I think he got a little boost, I’ve got to see it on tape. I don’t know if that was all Danny reaching the top of the backboard throwing that one down.”

Green: “I did (get a boost). I did. I didn’t want to mislead anybody, it doesn’t happen often... We got the rebound, ‘Bron got a good shot. (I got) a little extra help from the defender, a little bump up. It was good timing. I got lucky. Sometimes you get lucky.”

Dwight Howard: “I thought it was Anthony Davis... Was that his first career dunk?”

Kyle Kuzma (via the L.A. Times): “I didn’t know he could dunk, honestly.”

Green (via the L.A. Times): “Shit, me neither.”

Howard: “My reaction was crazy... When I saw it on Instagram or whatever I was like ‘man, I didn’t know I did all that. But I was just shocked. I was really shocked to see Danny get up like that... One of the best dunks of our young season by a guy you never would have thought could dunk like that.”

Anthony Davis: “He kind of surprised all of us. He said he missed one last game so he owed us one, and he shocked us all.”

LeBron James: “That was special. That was UNC Danny right there going up and getting that one.”

Vogel: “That was an electric play.”

Danny Green: “Don’t expect a lot from me this year, or any years to come. I’ll be on the perimeter a lot more than put backs.”

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.