Dunk Dreams/Street Slam/Street Hoop is a good game in it's own right even though it borrows heavily from NBA JAM.
As far as defense goes, this is street ball: snatch up shots by goal tending, and match up your jumps to reject slams. The timing to block dunks is difficult, but you want to be about at the height of your jump preferably directly in front of your opponent just as he motions to dunk the ball. I've never blocked a super dunk, and i don't know if there is a powered up defensive move if the defending team has a flashing bar also.(would make for rather nasty rejections tho) Better defense ability on your team helps too.
Play long enough to grasp the subtle techniques and the game is a ton of fun. My major gripes are with the stiff controls and the CPU AI. The CPU will make you downright violent with it's last minute comeback ability, but if you win, you know you did GOOD! Very satisfying <img src="graemlins/mrt2.gif" border="0" alt="[Mr T]" /> The game is much better with 2P.