Dawkins. Jordan. Shaq. This holy trinity of basketball legends is synonymous with a beloved type of slam dunk that snaps the rim and shatters the backboard. We've all seen the nostalgic SportsCenter clips or televised half-time shows celebrating their backboard-breaking demolition derbies. But what exactly makes these magnificent dunk conquests so harmonious?

Seeing a baller sail through the air for a monster slam feeds a fetish for watching something beautiful get destroyed. In this case, the crown jewel is the shiny, crystal backboard. The rare staccato, soprano splash of fiberglass bursting and showering the court is the sporting world's equivalent of a masterfully performed Mozart aria. It is sonic bliss. The entire spectacle can only be described as music to one's ears, particularly when accompanied by a thunderous eruption of rabid fan hysteria from the stands.

As most sports fan knows, the NBA has moved away from using buckling backboards into an era of flexible breakaway rims, so the halcyon days of slam dunks with glass downpours on the hardwood are pretty much over. From a fan's perspective, it's worrisome. It makes a child of the '80s wonder if the up-coming generation of ballers will ever be able to witness the sublime destruction of a basketball hoop or experience a game delay while underpaid janitors sweep the court free of fiberglass shrapnel. Sure, hoops still explode like dynamite in antiquated high school gymnasiums or in suburban driveways, but the craft is now mostly a fossil of basketball past in the big leagues.

Here's a nostalgic two-and-a-half-step walk down memory lane to a bygone era in hoops when rims were theatrically bolted to the glass backboard, rather than the steel apparatus that suspends the goal today. These venomous displays of aerial pageantry are truly the creme de le creme of dunks that break and shatter shit.

30. Dwight Howard Breaks the Shot Clock
Early in the first quarter of the Eastern Conference championship, Dwight Howard's quick, powerful jam puts the Magic on the board and brings down the shot clock. Superman's slam is definitely not the most dramatic, but it's a testament to the sheer strength and domination in the paint of the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion.

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Previously: #10 through #6 -- 'Tractor' Traylor, 'Big Country' Reeves, and More

5. Three Men Go Up, the Backboard Goes Down
There aren't enough superlatives in the thesaurus to describe the sickness of this three-man slam. On a missed breakaway layup, these three answer at the same time by rebounding the ball off the board and stuffing it straight into the hole. This high school backboard was doomed from moment all three took to the air.

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Previously: #15 through #11 -- Darvin Ham, Jerome Lane, and More

10. Reverse Ally-Oop Crushes Backboard
The sideline paint tell us this video is from Glasgow High School in Glasgow, Montana, home of the Glasglow Scotties. After an artful read from his teammate, the dunker grabs the ball from behind in mid-air for a mind-rattling ally-oop that brings down the backboard. The radio announcer's punctuated enthusiasm and announcement that "this ball game is over with" is easy to love.

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Previously: #20 through #16 -- Chris Morris, Jason Keep, and a Middle School Math Teacher

15. Darvin Ham Demolishes the Backboard
Dunking for the glory, Texas Tech's Darvin Ham destroyed a backboard during a 1996 NCAA Tournament game against UNC, changing the trajectory of the game and giving the Red Raiders a berth in the Sweet 16. Dunkin' Darvin's famous rain of glass even made cover of Sports Illustrated. The forward was a member of the 2004 NBA champion Detroit Pistons and is now an assistant coach for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds minor league basketball team.

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Previously: #25 through #21 -- LeBron James, Nigel Dixon, and More

20. Misses the Slam, But Splinters the Backboard -- Widescreen Edition
File another in the glass breaker but missed the dunk department. Before transferring from Rutgers to Norfolk State for more playing time, Christian Morris took the hardwood for the New York Metro Hawks in high school. He hails from the Bronx. In this video, he splinters the glass at the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, Georgia. Morris is reported to be only 16 years old at the time of this dunk. Too bad he misses.

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Previously: #30 through #26 -- Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, and More

25. Jamaal Moore Tears the Roof Off That Sucka
Jamaal Moore was a competitive starting forward for Rice University. In this clip, Moore shatters the backboard on a solo dunk during the Owls' second annual Halloween Hoops classic.

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