LeBron James has had a lot of memorable moments in his 19-year career. But his most memorable clutch moment might be the chase-down block in game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. This block is considered the best block of all time, but one player believes that might not be true.
Pat Connington, the shooting guard for the Milwaukee Bucks, says that Giannis’ block in game 4 of the 2021 NBA finals is the best he has ever seen.
"It's, in my opinion, the best block of all time."
—Pat Connaughton on Giannis' block on Deandre Ayton pic.twitter.com/dridZ2Ne8J
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 15, 2021
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Giannis had a huge block on DeAndre Ayton in game 4. This helped Bucks win the game and even the series at 2 apiece. The Bucks would then finish off the Suns in 6 games. Giannis was named the Finals MVP, and he won his first championship with the Bucks.
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Before we get into which block was better, let’s have a look at both of them.
Giannis Antetokounmpo block against the Phoenix Suns
In the following YouTube video, Giannis is seen guarding Ayton, who then hands off the ball to Booker and sets the screen for him. He then rolls hard to the rim and Booker lobs up the ball to him. Giannis, who was hedging on Booker, sees that Ayton was going to catch it and throw it down, recovers, and goes up to swat the ball out of Ayton’s hands. This was an incredible block, considering how far Giannis was away from the ball and how high he had to jump to block it.
LeBron James block against the Golden State Warriors
Here, Kyrie Irving misses a shot and the Golden State Warriors have a fast break opportunity. They have 2 on 1 break with Curry and Iguodala. They hurry up the court by passing the ball to each other and Curry passes the ball to Iguodala who only has J. R. Smith to beat at the rim. Then, out of nowhere, LeBron James, who was rushing back, times his jump to perfection and block the layup of the glass. The margin of error was so minute here, and he could have been called for goaltending even if he was a millisecond late.
“The best block of all time.”- Pat Connington throws shade on LeBron James
Pat Connington was addressing the block after game 4 of the 2021 finals. He says, “It’s, in my opinion, the best block of all time. Obviously, you know we’re a little biased and you can talk about the LeBron block as well,” He threw a little bit of shade on LeBron, but he was also just backing his teammate.
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Both these blocks are unique in their own way. Giannis has to defend the pass and had to track back and time his jump to perfection. LeBron had to track back from the other half and had to cover a lot of distance in a short time. He also had to time his jump to perfection and make sure he didn’t foul anyone in the process.
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Both these blocks were very crucial for their team’s fortunes. The Bucks were only up by 2 and without this block, they would have been tied up with a minute left. The Cavs were all level and without the block, they may have never ended their title drought.
Which block did you think was better? Let us know in the comments below.