The Ultimate Guide to Basketball Bench Celebrations
Just like the blog looking at the best 3 Point Celebrations we are going to look at a few basketball bench celebrations. You will normally see these celebrations after a big dunk, late 3 pointer, or even a nasty ankle breaker. We are going to use a similar grading system to that previous 3 Point Celebration blog.
The video to the right has some of the celebrations we are going to start with and I will give you the exact time stamp so you can check them out (These Monmouth guys were serious with the celebrations, they had to be practicing these and had to have an idea of when to pull them out):
The First Down: (0:29)
Not the most creative idea in the world but it’s our first celebration. Everyone has done this one but these guys make it look easy with how in sync they are. I really wish they would have thrown a balled up towel or something, that would have really raised the stakes here.
Number of Players Involved: 3 (QB, WR, and C)
Creativity: 2/5
Cohesion: 5/5
Difficulty: 2/5
Final Score: 2/5
The Human Hoop: (0:33)
This one is really solid I have to admit. I have honestly never seen it and I wish more benches would break it out. Guy 1 jumps into Guy 2’s arms. Guy 2 lifts Guy 1 up to imitate a basketball hoop and Guy 3 comes out of nowhere to dunk. Again I would have liked to see a balled up towel as the basketball and I would have really liked Guy 3 to thrown down a windmill or something.
Number of Players Involved: 3 (Basket station, Hoop, and Dunker)
Creativity: 5
Cohesion: 5
Difficulty: 3
Final Score: 3.75/5
The Big Catch: (0:38)
This Monmouth bench was really one of the best when it came to celebrations. These guys were all over SportsCenter strictly for their celebrations. This is another great one: a 3 is hit and 2 guys instantly stand up, another guy starts flopping around on his feet and ultimately jumps into their arms, and the last guy bends down to take their picture. Anytime you see someone catch a big fish this is the picture you see on social media
Number of Players Involved: 4 (fish, photographer, and 2 fish holders)
Creativity: 4.5
Cohesion: 5
Difficulty: 3.5 (imagine if the guy playing the fish jumped and the other guys missed him)
Final score: 3.5/5
The Human Scissors: (0:47)
This is arguably the goofiest celebration on this list but it has to bring a smile to your face. One guy literally does a handstand as the other guy catches him then he uses his legs to make a scissor motion. Who thinks of that? lol
Number of Players Involved: 2 (scissor and scissor operator. I would love to see like 4 pairs of scissors going at once after a big play)
Creativity: 4
Cohesion: 5
Difficulty: 4 (same story as above imagine if this guy goes into the handstand and the other guy isn’t ready)
Final Score: 3.75/5
The Bow and Arrow: (0:54)
Very similar to the 3 point celebration that you have seen a million times. The reason it shows up on this list is this guy is just firing arrows over and over again and I love.
Number of Players Involved: 1 (you can get the whole bench doing this though, that would be awesome)
Creativity: 1
Cohesion: N/A
Difficulty: 1
Final Score: 1/5
The Heart Attack: (1:10)
I said it above but I will say it again, this bench was the best man. A big 3 pointer gets hit and the bench springs into action. Guy one pretends to have a heart attack while one guy grabs his head and another grabs his feet then a fourth guy comes over with the paddles and brings him back to life.
Number of Players Involved: 4 (2 body holders, 1 patient, 1 doctor)
Creativity: 3
Cohesion: 4
Difficulty: 3.5
Final Score: 3.5/5
The “Robert Sacre”
Robert Sacre was basically a bench player for his whole career, when I was searching for videos this one popped up and I had to share with everyone. It looks like when a player hits a 3 he just stands up and holds the 3 sign but when someone has a nice dunk he goes into this weird karate move that I don’t understand but I love.
Number of Players Involved: 1
Creativity: 2
Cohesion: 5 (I have to say I am impressed by this move, it is so random and sporadic but it looks the exact same every time he does it)
Difficulty: 2
Final Score: 2.5/5
The Classics (Hold Me Back, Chaos/Storming the Court, Towel Guy/s, Flex Guy/s)
These are the classics that everyone does multiple times a game but let’s run through the explanations real quick:
Hold Me Back:
One guy is about to run onto the court but since the game is still being played someone has to grab him and hold him back.
Chaos/Storming the Court:
Usually this one happens after a big 3 pointer that causes your opponent to use a timeout or it’s at the end of the game. The whole bench just runs on the court in complete chaos.
Towel Guy/s:
You will see this one all the time and there are a few iterations of it as well; guys will spin the towel above their head, guys will snap the towel off the ground, guys will cover their face with the towel in disbelief, etc.
Flex Guy/s:
Usually after a big dunk a guy or two will just start flexing and looking menacing.
Nets Bench Dance: (first clip)
Very similar to the Robert Sacre video, I don’t know what this dance is but I absolutely love it. It’s like the Rockette’s kickline mixed with some sort of do-si-do or square dance.
Number of Players Involved: 4-6
Creativity: 4
Cohesion: 2.5 (if they were more in-sync this number would be higher)
Difficulty: 3.5
Final Score: 4.5
Wrestler Move: (1:34)
This one might be my favorite; it scores high on all of our rankings as you will see below. Four guys stand up and become the ropes of a wrestling ring, another guy runs towards those ropes and uses them to bounce off as he propels himself towards the last guy who he hits with the RKO. Instant classic
Number of Players Involved: 6 (four rope guys and 2 wrestlers)
Creativity: 5
Cohesion: 5
Difficulty: 4 (if the RKO was better this would be an easy 5)
Final Score: 4.75/5
Bobsled: (1:55)
Pretty simple but still damn fun to see on the floor. After a big 3 four guys sit on the floor and the last guy is running in place like he is running the bobsled down the runaway. He jumps in and away we go down turning down the track.
Number of Players Involved: 5 (I am not counting that last guy who jumps in, he just wants to be in on the action)
Creativity: 2
Cohesion: 3
Difficulty: 2
Final Score: 2/5
The Weight Room: (2:14)
Again pretty simple but this is great. 3 pointer gets knocked down and 6 guys jump off the bench and reenact a weight room. One guy starts doing sit ups, another is doing squats, one guy is doing curls, the fourth is doing pushups, the fifth is doing cardio with jumping jacks and the last guy is doing dips using the bench chairs.
Number of Players Involved: 6
Creativity: 5
Cohesion: 5
Difficulty: 4
Final Score: 4.5/5