Presenting "The Momie Awards." The Best of NBA Top Shot's First Half of 2023-2024

Welcome to the first ever "The Momie Awards," celebrating the best moments of the first half of the NBA Top Shot season for the 2023-2024 sets. The goal here is to take a look back at the first half of the year, showcase the best moments across 10 categories, culminating in a best of the best for collecting so far this year. Once the season winds down, we will do a part 2 highlighting the second half of this year's moments. For clarity, up until the final category, we are looking at the moments themselves. Watch your moments people! Now, put on your favorite jersey with a bow tie for the red carpet event here and enjoy the best moments of the year so far!

Best Common - The Nominees:

The quality of the 2023-2024 base set moments is the best it has been since S2. We came out of the gates hot with the first drop including the Jokic championship night highlight and Curry with the go to sleep celebration. If you haven't seen the other 3 finalists, Cade absolutely puts a defender on skates ending in total embarrassment, Cole Anthony hits a sick iso crossover before splitting a double team into a scoop layup and Russ absolutely flies to absurd heights in an insane alley oop dunk that belongs in the Throwdowns set to be honest. There is a load of quality in these cheaper base set moments worth adding to the collection and watching on repeat.

And The Momie goes to.....Nikola Jokic Hook Shot! This moment has a legendary feel to it and is really well done. Honestly, if you would see this moment at a higher tier, it wouldn't surprise you in the slightest. The intro, the ring ceremony, the banner hang and to top it off a smooth hook shot. This is a must have.

Best Rare - The Nominees:

This was absolutely brutal to narrow down to just 5 to begin with. If the base set quality raised the bar, you know the next tier of rare moments is going to be even stronger. One quick clarification, this does not include rookie rares, since there is a separate Momie category for best rookie moment. Let's start with the dunks. Cole Anthony and Jalen Suggs recreated the legendary LeBron and Wade dunk from Miami and Keegan Murray throws down an absolute poster dunk with a complete bench eruption. Haliburton has the most fun to watch reel from Video Game Numbers and Ja Morant's For the Win moment is by far the best in a set of moments that could be a category of its own. Let's talk about the dark horse in Jordan Poole. For all the ups and downs this year, this moment is an absolute smoke of handles and spin moves into a fade away in the paint. Just a really fun moment to watch on repeat.

And The Momie goes to.....Ja Morant Layup! The Video Game Numbers and Throwdowns fan boys aren't going to like this one, but this is the best rare moment of the first half of the year. Ja's first game back, finishing off an electric performance reminding us of why he is a top 5 player in the world. When this shot happened, all of Twitter and Discord just absolutely blew up with everyone tagging Top Shot, wanting the moment and just breaking the internet. Ja's only rare this year, but he made it worth it.

Best Legendary - The Nominees:

Where to even begin here. We only have a handful of legendary moments so far, but they are basically For The Win on steroids for the most part. Just absolutely showcasing the electric side of basketball. The one non-game winner here is Zion's hammer dunk. He has been under the radar, but Zion is back and getting better every night. For the game winners, you have PG-13 icing over Klay, Booker silencing the Garden, the pure emotion of big moment Jimmy Butler and the night Tyrese Haliburton ascended to stardom. If you can pick them up, you'll never get tired of watching them. This next legendary drop has a high bar to meet.

And The Momie goes to.....Tyrese Haliburton 3 Pointer! The Pacers emergence through the In Season Tournament was the main story line all the way up until losing to the Lakers in the finals. Haliburton broke out into being a true superstar and this game winner was the moment when he truly arrived.

Break Out Player - The Nominees:

This Momie category is very heavily influenced by everyone's new favorite game, Fast Break. Throughout the first few runs, we have seen a nice mix and rise of certain players due to their stat value and emergence. Vassell, when he has been healthy, has been a great scoring value player. Kuminga is finally getting regular minutes in Golden State, Sengun and Gafford are double double machines pounding several categories and Jalen Johnson feels like an X Factor any given night you need a wild card entry. The other key to this category is these 5 guys had some marketplace action for buys and also saw some floor increase in various moments. These guys became names in the regular rotation for collectors in Fast Break.

And The Momie goes to.....Daniel Gafford. If you have read the blog before, you know this is Daniel Gafford fan account here; but beyond being a fan of the Landlord, people took notice and started buying up his rares for double use. What a great reward - enjoying a Gafford Throwdown moment (some of the best dunks period) and getting double use. Enjoy him in Dallas, we miss him in the District!

Best Set - The Nominees:

Let me just get it out of the way before the Video Game Numbers people come after me. It is a great set and quite honestly was #6 here. I was torn between that and the base set. What I said at the outset of the blog in the first category I genuinely believe. The base set this year is incredibly strong and I had it narrowly edging VGN to crack the Top 5. MGLE and Throwdowns are deep just like they are year over year and you can't go wrong collecting either set. For The Win is a personal favorite, but I'd debate it is hard to argue collecting a set of the best game winning / clinching moments of the year isn't a great decision. Lastly, we have Freshman Gems. Just an absurdly good showcase of this year's rookie class.

And The Momie goes to.....Freshman Gems! This is how you do rookies digitally. You have the Rookie Debut set /4000 with the true rookie debut moments, then you come back with the ultra highlights of the first half of each rookie, adding in rookie badges and low mint counts in the Freshman Gems rare set. The moment quality in here is top notch and make an incredible collectible to hold long term with the rookie value boost. Well done.

Best Rookie Moment - The Nominees:

This rookie class is DEEP. As a result we have a slew of incredible rookie moments. This category is any moment from this year with a rookie badge. Quite honestly, we could have put up five Freshman Gem moments here and not been wrong, but narrowing this down, we have some serious highlights here. The MGLE set has a pair of amazing sequence moments with the Bilal block to alley oop and Chet nailing a three pointer, block and finishing with a slam. Cam Whitmore is your sleeper here with an insane semi-180 dunk from Freshman Gems and is joined by the hype man Victory Wembanyama with an incredible throwdown of his own. Lastly, we have Brandon Miller out of the Rookie Debut set with a sweet pump fake getting two defenders on the hook before knocking down a corner three. I can't wait to see what moments this rookie class gives us the rest of the way.

And The Momie goes to.....Chet Holmgren Dunk! This moment set the marketplace on fire during the initial challenge. MGLE was back, challenges were back and the Wemby master challenge has ignited us this year. This moment showcases the full game Chet brings to the table and is going to be an amazing moment to hold long term with the low mint count and steep floor. Congrats to everyone who has one.

Best Moment You've Never Seen - The Nominees:

Here at C&C we're big proponents of WATCH YOUR MOMENTS! This base set has some great ones, so here is a category for those of you who enjoy watching them, but maybe some diamonds in the rough that don't get the same shine as some of the big name players. Guilty as charged on dunk bias early on here with several dunk moments being in the finals. Nick Richards and Jalen Green throw down absolute posters, but hey Jalen Green can only have so many Throwdown moments. Miles McBride finally gets a Top Shot Debut with a high flying put back and Tari Eason is a steal moment, but finishes with a one handed slam to boot. Even the Bones Hyland assist is a behind the back dish to a Westbrook slam. Sorry, too many good moments with dunks in them to ignore!

And The Momie goes to.....Bones Hyland Assist! In a category dunk heavy, it is the assist moment from Bones getting The Momie award. This is just too smooth to not get the win. In some traffic between a pair of defenders to naturally go behind the back that easily is raw talent. Russ finishes it off with the dunk between the defenders and you have just a fun basketball moment to watch.

Best Archive - The Nominees:

These archive moments dropped seemingly in team packs like an RKO out of nowhere earlier this year, but if you watch enough of them, there are some real gems in there. Two strong dunks from Richard Jefferson with the poster throwdown and Larry Sanders with a silly body bending reverse alley oop lead the way of moments you didn't know you needed, but you do. The fabled Nick Young game winner and Jae Crowder with a corner 3 that erupts Boston are the best of the game winners from this set. John Wall with another 360 style layup (which is not his only one on the platform somehow) makes for pure viewing pleasure. You may not see the biggest names littered throughout this set, but there are some great moments from seasons past.

And The Momie goes to.....Jae Crowder 3 pointer! I really wanted to go with John Wall for the homer pick here, but that Jae Crowder corner 3 pointer for the win is just too good to ignore. It's contested, falling out of bounds and the arena erupts in Boston. That's basketball at its finest.

Best Subset Common - The Nominees:

Just a personal preference, but I have always slightly favored Hustle & Show over Extra Spice. This category was the best of the common non-base subsets- Fresh Threads, Hustle & Show and Extra Spice. Again, leaving the rookies out with their own category earlier which would have used Rookie Debut. Fresh Threads was a tough set this year for unforgettable moments, as opposed to getting more of the new team debut memory. Kelly Oubre did have a spectacular strong drive in the paint for an and 1 jumper. Hustle and Show had a few windup / windmill style dunks so far, but Dejounte's was my favorite, especially with the swat steal setting it up. Collin Sexton has been a star in Utah with several memorable dunks this year, this one with a dunk contest style self set up. Malik Monk with a classic double poster dunk and Steph with a classic Steph moment with handles into a clean triple headline the best of Extra Spice so far. These sets are designed to be fun moments at the end of the day and these final 5 are the best of the best so far.

And The Momie goes to.....Malik Monk Dunk! I don't know if any other moments exist on Top Shot where a guy is putting 2 players at once on a poster, but Malik Monk has some serious highlights in his catalog. Much underappreciated, Monk is a highlight reel on any given night and this moment showcases his talent at its finest.

Must Have Moment - The Nominees:

Let me start by clarifying here - this is going beyond just the moment itself. This is long term Top Shot holding, quality of the moment, history of the moment and importance of the moment. These are your 5 biggest moments of the first half of the year on Top Shot. How can we ignore Wemby mania on Top Shot? It breathed a ton of life into the platform and still is. This is his true "rookie card" on Top Shot. The quad badge true Top Shot rookie debut. Arguably, the biggest one on the platform. In the same category, we have Chet Holmgren, who came out of the gate so strong early on that a lot of people believed he was going to flip Wembanyama as THE top rookie to own from this class, which is saying something. Chet gets the double nomination here with his super rare MGLE challenge reward with rookie badges. With the scarcity and a four figure floor, this could be a great one to hold long term if you're a Chet believer. While of course everyone loves the rookies, we can't ignore the superstars. Kevin Durant's MGLE from this season is immortal history as he moves into the Top 10 of the NBA's all time scoring list. Last and certainly not least, we have one of the best moments to date from the career of Ja Morant in a limited rare supply, coming back from a critical hurdle in his career. I am a huge believer in Ja long term and if he turns into the mega star I think he will, we will look back on this moment with incredible importance in his career journey. All 5 of these moments showcase the beauty of Top Shot. Capturing these players, these moments in digital form; you can't go wrong with any.

And The Momie goes to.....Victor Wembanyama 3 Pointer! It had to be the Wembanyama debut. It just had to be. If he turns into the generational player everyone is hyping him up to be and we are all right that we are in the midst of the digital evolution of collectibles, this moment could ultimately wind up being the most important moment across the entire platform, regardless of series. Wembanyama's true NBA Top Shot rookie debut, with only 4000 every produced and only 3772 left in existence. Let that sink in.

To close it up here and celebrate the first ever edition of The Momie Awards, we're giving away a showcase with 10 great moments featured in The Momie Award nominations above. All you have to do to be entered to win is quote tweet the official Collectin & Connectin tweet of this blog post with your TS name and your must have moment from the 2023-2024 season so far!

Until next time, tell more stories, watch more moments and we ride at dawn...