The Denver Nuggets defeated the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday by the final score of 124-101, and while it would be easy to point to another casual Nikola Jokic triple-double (26 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists in just 30 minutes) as the highlight of the game, that would be severely downplaying the electrifying dunk that Christian Braun put right on the head of Nets combo guard Armoni Brooks on a breakaway in the fourth quarter.

Goodness gracious!

The Christian Braun dunk prompted the Nuggets' play-by-play man Chris Marlowe to “Woo!” like he was Ric Flair. Jamal Murray was giggling like a schoolgirl. It even got the normally mild-mannered Nikola Jokic up out of his seat to celebrate the dunk with the rest of the Nuggets players on the bench, though he never did crack a smile. Vintage Jokic.

The expected emergence of Christian Braun is part of the reason why Denver was willing to let Bruce Brown walk in free agency after Brown was such a key piece of winning the championship last season. Denver selected Braun with the 21st pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, and even in limited action, he looked the part of someone who could be a contributor to a team with championship aspirations. This year, in increased action, Braun has taken a step up… and that's not even considering the dunk he had against Brooklyn.

After the game, Braun was asked where this dunk ranked among the best in his career.

I'd say this dunk over Armoni Brooks qualifies as a crazy one, and Denver Nuggets fans will be hoping for a whole lot more from Braun as the season progresses.