One of the more fun things to watch during NBA games these days is the reaction of each team’s bench during big plays. Whether it is an amazing shot, ankle-breaking crossover, or jaw-dropping dunk, the reaction of a team’s bench is almost as entertaining as the play itself.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been at the forefront of this for years as many fans will remember the likes of Robert Sacre getting a ton of attention for his outlandish celebrations. These days the Golden State Warriors are the standard, but bench reactions remain a staple of the NBA experience.
As such, the NBA recently released a video highlighting the best bench reactions of the 2016-17 season and the Lakers were featured. As a matter of fact, it was Larry Nance Jr.’s dunk over now-teammate Brook Lopez that closed out the video.
The Lakers’ bench reaction was absolutely unreal. Ivica Zubac and D’Angelo Russell showed their excitement, running around the baseline while Metta World Peace, Tarik Black, and Thomas Robinson all just looked shocked. World Peace’s classic pose with both hands on his head will forever stand the test of time.
Arguably just as entertaining was the way the video closed out, as the NBA zoomed in on the Nets bench reaction to Nance’s dunk. The slam was so amazing that the opponents had to stop themselves from going crazy, realizing that their teammate had just been posterized.
Overall, bench reactions aren’t any major part of the game, but they are certainly fun to watch and hopefully the Lakers will be making plenty of plays this season to make their bench go crazy.