Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka has some anger issues. See also: that time he tried to rip off Mike Dunleavy’s arm. He’s the kind of guy where if somebody came up to you and said “Serge Ibaka just flagrantly punched a dude in the nuts during a professional basketball game,” you’d be all, heh, classic Serge.

If you missed it earlier in the week, Ibaka got called for a flagrant 1 foul late in the fourth in OKC’s 108-104 victory over the LA Clippers for, without grace or mercy or subterfuge, hauling off and whaling on Blake Griffin’s nuts. Everybody has an opinion about it. Kendrick Perkins thinks Griffin deserved it because he flops a lot, and that it should’ve been a “double foul.” Kobe Bryant says he probably would’ve smacked Ibaka in the mouth.

The one constant has been the assumption that Ibaka would get suspended, because seriously, watch the video. Griffin isn’t flopping, he got punched in the junk by a guy whose Eagle Claw could rip a hole in steel. News of the punishment came in yesterday afternoon, and sure enough, Serge was suspended for … wait, he wasn’t? Really?

The NBA announced Tuesday that Ibaka’s foul was upgraded to a flagrant 2 and he was fined $25,000 for striking Griffin in the groin area, but Ibaka was not suspended.

Before the ruling was handed down, Griffin said he didn’t “see how it could be let go” by the league with only a fine.

“I’m not going to cry,” Griffin said after practice Tuesday. “I’m not going to complain.” (via LA Times)

Griffin handled the situation as well as anybody could, but achieved legendary status for last night’s tweet, which cuts to the heart of the matter while remaining light-hearted and brand-conscious:

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This week, the Wednesday Dunk Battle goes high concept — what, scientifically speaking, constitutes the “best slam dunk?” Does it lessen the dunk’s greatness if it’s performed in practice? What if it involves a pillar of fire and a trampoline? What if you aren’t a human being and can dunk? How do they relate to one another?

Your job, as a loyal With Leather reader, is to view the following dunks and help decide which slam dunk slammed most dunkingly. It’s important that you participate and vote in the poll at the bottom, for without you, we may never know the perfect dunk equation.

This week’s dunks:

1. The Los Angeles Clippers block/pass/dunk machine leads to a massive left-handed effort from Blake Griffin.
2. LeBron James continues to nerf the entire 2013 Slam Dunk Contest by going between his legs in practice.
3. Kenneth Faried goes up Dwight Howard’s helpless back to catch an alley-oop.
4. A ridiculous man’s fire dunk, as seen yesterday on With Leather
5. Eddie the sea otter throws it down, as seen in Danger’s post from last Wednesday

Please view, and vote in the poll.

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The Wednesday Dunk Battle is your most important weekly stop as a With Leather reader. Your viewing of a collection of dunks and decision regarding which dunk was the most Slam Dunk is important not only for editor-to-patron relations, but for SCIENCE, because deciding which dunks are best is science’s primary goal.

Last week’s winner (in a landslide) was Kobe Bryant. This week’s showdown features Dwyane Wade, Blake Griffin, a jumble of consonants and what may or may not be Teenage Gronkowski back for dunking glory.

This week’s contestants:

1. It says “DeMar DeRozan dunks on Timofey Mozgov” but I refuse to believe that those are peoples’ names
2. Back-to-back dunks from DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin
3. Dwyane Wade’s “showtime reverse”
4. Trevor Wages from the COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES (~!) shatters the backboard

Please consult the dunk clips and make your decision below.

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"And that girl, and that girl, and that girl, and that girl and her mom, and that girl..."

Last time we checked in on Chris Paul’s adorable young son, he was giving us a good laugh at his dad’s expense, as CP3 asked him, “Who dunks?” to which he replied, “Blake!” The question, of course, came after the elder Paul threw down an impressive two-handed Phi Slamma Jamma against the New Orleans Hornets, and dunking isn’t usually his deal. But thanks to that cute little response, CP3’s kid became a star, and that means that Justin Bieber is ready to give him a true lesson in swag.

At last Thursday’s complete drubbing of the Boston Celtics, ever the convenient Los Angeles sports fan, Bieber took young Paul under his wing and did things like “take him to the concession stand”, which has quotes around it because you know he was parading this little dude in front of every girl at that game. And we already know all too well that Bieber doesn’t give a crap about what happens at NBA games, so I rest my case.

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We don’t really ease back into our regular features scheduling until Monday, but Christmas is over, right? That’s it. When the 26th hits, it’s the end of the “everybody singing Jingle Bells” jazz and straight into non-stop year-end lists until January.

We didn’t get to write about EVERYTHING Christmas-related this season and a lot of stuff is just being shared around today, so I thought I’d perform a gesture of good will and put everything relevant to post-Christmas Wednesday in one handy spot for the enjoyment of all. Or the enjoyment of anybody still clinging to Christmas, I guess.

Up first: School children singing a Robert Griffin III Christmas carol.

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The only upside to a Mayan apocalypse going down at some point today would be the end of whoever keeps making athletes sing sports-related Christmas carols because they’re sports guys and it’s Christmas.

Yesterday we shared with you the 12 Days Of MMA Christmas (“two black eyes!” etc.), and before that it was pro wrestlers singing WWE Jingle Bells. Somewhere in-between we watched the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks sing holiday carols, but I guess that wasn’t explicitly basketball enough, so somebody got 4-pack of Santa hats and made Jason Kidd, James Harden, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul sing NBA-specific Jingle Bells.

It … might be worse than the one with wrestlers. Sample lyric:

Over the “D” he jumps, dunking all the way!

Here’s the commercial. While you’re watching it, I’ll be writing up this thing somebody just sent me of Psy and a bunch of locked-out NHL players singing a Gangnam Style remix of ‘O Come All Ye Faithful.’

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