{"id":109298,"date":"2024-11-27T07:39:52","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T12:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=109298"},"modified":"2024-11-27T07:39:52","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T12:39:52","slug":"bradley-beal-blocked-lebron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/27\/bradley-beal-blocked-lebron\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron Gets a Taste of His Own Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> might have one of the best defensive NBA Finals moments in league history. His chase down block on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/iguodan01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andre Iguodala<\/a> in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals is legendary. James is known for chase-down blocks, as he has had plenty of them in his career.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"LeBron James&#039; Historic Block on Andre Iguodala From All Angles\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-zd62MxKXp8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Yet, as LeBron is getting older, he has to deal with more athletic and faster players. And that means he is no longer the king of those chase-down blocks. In the Los Angeles Lakers most recent game against the Phoenix Suns, LeBron got a taste of his own medicine.<\/p>\n<h2>LeBron Gets a Taste of His Own Medicine<\/h2>\n<h3>Bradley Beal Blocks LeBron<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bealbr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bradley Beal<\/a> is having an improved season on the defensive end for the Phoenix Suns. He has completely changed his game to be more of a factor defensively. There is no better proof of that than the last game against the Lakers. Bradley Beal blocked LeBron from behind, giving the King a taste of his own medicine.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bradley Beal gave LeBron a taste of his own medicine \ud83d\ude33\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_4dg_4wSJ20?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>To be fair, LeBron probably shouldn\u2019t have been in the game at that point. There were only six minutes left in regulation, and the Suns were <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/26\/suns-must-win-to-stay-alive-nba-cup\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">up<\/a> by 20+ points. Driving to the basket, LeBron tried to do his signature spin and dunk move, but he was met at the rim by Beal.<\/p>\n<p>The crowd erupted, and the moment went viral. Fans were quick to post about it on social media, some even saying LeBron needs to leave the Lakers and go to a true contender.<\/p>\n<h3>Bradley Beal\u2019s Improved Defense<\/h3>\n<p>This year, Beal is averaging the second-most steals of his career and 0.9 blocks (highest). He also averages only 13.7 field goal attempts, which is the third-lowest. It is clear that Beal has embraced the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/04\/suns-mike-budenholzer-success\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">role<\/a> of being the third star on a contender, one that has to sacrifice the most to get the job done.<\/p>\n<p>When you watch the Suns play, it is clear that Beal came into the season with a more <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/07\/25\/evaluating-bradley-beal-as-the-suns-point-guard\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">defined role<\/a> and the team has utilized him better than last season. Last season, Beal, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Durant<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bookede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Devin Booker<\/a> were having trouble developing chemistry between the three. Injuries prevented them from playing together, but they also didn\u2019t have defined roles as much as this season.<\/p>\n<h3>Is LeBron Getting Too Old?<\/h3>\n<p>Here is the thing, LeBron has been blocked previously in his career. This is not a sign of his aging. In fact, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/robinna01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nate Robinson<\/a> had an even more spectacular block on James 11 years ago, when LeBron was playing for the Miami Heat and in the prime of his career.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nate Robinson&#039;s BIG block on LeBron James!\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/93bllUS8clQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There is no clear info how many players have blocked a LeBron dunk. An article by <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/2911635-only-9-humans-know-the-glory-of-blocking-a-lebron-james-dunk\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bleacher Report<\/a> claims only nine players have done it, but that is an old article from 2020. That would have made Beal the 10th player to block James, but we cannot be certain. There are likely more players that have enjoyed that feat since then.<\/p>\n<p>One thing is certain, when you block the King, you are getting recognition and social media mentions. When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/allenja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jarrett Allen<\/a> blocked LeBron a few years ago, fans were saying that it was the block of the year. Now that Bradley Beal blocked Lebron\u2019s dunk attempt, he will surely get more recognition as a defensive player. The Suns need him to be.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CDl_qzfdeE8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James might have one of the best defensive NBA Finals moments in league history. His chase down block on Andre Iguodala in Game 7 of the 2016 Finals is legendary. James is known for chase-down blocks, as he has had plenty of them in his career. Yet, as LeBron is getting older, he has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":109328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,28],"tags":[629,311,352,1043,69,38,40909],"class_list":["post-109298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-suns","tag-andre-iguodala","tag-bradley-beal","tag-devin-booker","tag-jarrett-allen","tag-kevin-durant","tag-lebron-james","tag-nate-robinson"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}