Getting Dunked On

DWIGHT HOWARD, Magic Forward

"I was in the mall, and this dude asks if I'll sign something for him," Howard (number 12, above) recalls. "I said, 'Cool, what?' He opens up his jacket, and on his T-shirt he has the picture of me getting dunked on by Kobe [Bryant]. I had to sign it. I had to laugh at that one." Adds Howard, who this season posterized the Knicks' Eddy Curry, "When you get dunked on, there's nothing you can do about it. You just want to go do it to somebody else on the other end."

ELTON BRAND, Clippers Forward

"As a shot blocker you always think you can get some of the ball," says Brand (in red, defending Gilbert Arenas). He ranked fifth in the NBA with 2.54 blocks. "Sometimes that means you take it on the chest. Getting dunked on used to be a really big deal when I was younger, but now I know it's just two points. The worst anyone got me was Jamaal Magloire of the Hornets [in 2001]. I was killing them--I had 30 points early in the fourth--but after that dunk I was embarrassed and my mind wasn't in the game."

ADONAL FOYLE, Warriors Center

Foyle (number 31, against Amar� Stoudemire) recalls dunks on him by Bryant and Derek Anderson as "special to me." Says Foyle, "When I started, it was the most annoying thing. It changes the game. The worst is when you underestimate a guy. You're like, 'Oh, I got this.' Then he cocks it back and [dunks]. That's not fun."

THEO RATLIFF, Blazers Center

Ratliff (right, with Lamar Odom) is guilt-free about allowing slams. "Ninety-nine percent of the time I get dunked on, it's because my teammates made a [defensive] mistake," he says. "It's not a big deal. I'm going to go after every shot trying to block. If they get the dunk in, it's just another play."

BRAD MILLER, Kings Center

"A guy like Shaq [right, dunking on Ben Wallace], he's dunked on everybody," says Miller, explaining why he's not embarrassed to get beaten by the big man. As Jazz center Jarron Collins says, " Shaq doesn't count. He gets me every year. He never says much. He does it for the crowd, and he does the walk down the floor afterward. You don't take it personally."