It didn’t go in, but boy was it some effort.
Competing at the FIBA (international basketball’s governing body) Under-18 European championships in a game between Finland and Kosovo, Finnish 17-year-old Awak Kuier attempted to dunk home a massive, off-the-backboard assist. She came up just short, but that should hardly diminish the gumption in the attempt.
Nor did it do anything to really hard Finland’s chance to win the game, or Kuier’s opportunity to make an impact; Finland won, 93-37, with Kuier adding 7 points and 7 rebounds, as well as a pair of blocks, in fewer than 10 minutes.
A 6-foot-5 enigma born in Egypt but naturalized in Finland, Kuier is a true enigma. She’s dunked in a game multiple times before, both in tournaments with the national team and in less pressurized All-Star Games. In fact, she’s been dunking basketballs for more than two years in practice, so it’s only a matter of time before she lands the ultimate poster dunk on top of some poor, unsuspecting European defender. It’s not fair, really.
The next step for Kuier is adding a degree of panache to her slams. She’s got the degree of difficulty down, now she just needs to relax and wait on her moment.
