Oh, Josh Smith, the backlash will be swift for this one. The Atlanta Hawks forward has a somewhat justified reputation for being a knucklehead that stems from his reported clashes with coaches and absurd missed dunks like this one in the 2009 NBA playoffs.
But at least that missed dunk came when the game was already decided. This one came in the opening minutes of a critical Game 2 against the Boston Celtics, and it came when he was being chased by his opponent. Video below the jump.
Yeah, that's pretty bad. A simple dunk would have done just fine, but instead, Smith tried some crazy windmill reverse that badly missed the rim. That dunk is tough to pull off in a dunk contest, much less an NBA playoff game. Let's watch it again for hilarity's sake.
For more on the Celtics, head over to CelticsBlog and SB Nation Boston. For more on the Hawks, check out Peachtree Hoops and SB Nation Atlanta.