“I’m gonna say my quote growing up: Either way you’re gonna be on a highlight. If you go up, you blocked it, you gonna be on a highlight, you get dunked on you’re gonna be on a highlight.”
And so Jarrett Allen, 20, decided he’d rather be the blocker rather than the dunkee and he became one of eight players to ever deny LeBron James on a dunk. (Amare Stoudemire did it twice.)
It was loud, it was early, and it set a tone for the game ... right from the beginning. For Big Jay, it was a statement and a big moment in the spotlight for one of Brooklyn’s cornerstones. One wins, they all win.
Jarrett Allen PROTECTS THE RIM for the @BrooklynNets!
— NBA (@NBA) December 19, 2018
BKN leads 10-9 early in Q1 on @NBATV. #WeGoHard pic.twitter.com/QH2el6Uljy
Now that YES provided you with every angle, it’s safe to say there was nothing subtle about that block. But Jarrett Allen remained humble as ever when he was asked about the dunk.
“So, really he came down the lane and I was just going up to contest the shot. Obviously it’s, you know, LeBron, but obviously I had to go up with some extra emphasis, but I ended up getting it,” Allen said in the post-game locker room.
Then, he was told, you’re one of nine people to block a LeBron dunk...
“That’s a hell of a list to be on. He’s an amazing player. I got the chance to do it, so I’m on the list forever now.”
The younger Allen was humble, but the veteran James acted, shall we say, a bit classless.
“He’s in his twenties, I’m in my thirties. It takes me a little longer to get warmed up, but that’s fine. When you’re a shot blocker, I’m sure you can get a block. It happens. It’s probably all over social media, so that’s cool,” James said, apparently blaming it all on his advancing age.
Really? James is the undisputed “King” of the league. Just give the kid some credit and move on. The Nets haven’t had much to celebrate over the years and nobody is looking for a bow from James, but comments like this are very... unbecoming.
“I think it did something to LeBron, said 12-year veteran Jared Dudley. “The next couple of times he went he switched to his left hand, I mean he did that early on [in] preseason and the regular season versus Blake Griffin. Jarrett Allen has this thing where he gets dunked on, it doesn’t bother him, he doesn’t care. Giannis was like that when I used to play with him,”
We may not realize it in the moment, but if things continue to go well for the Nets during the rebuild, The Block will be remembered as one of the most iconic moments before things went from south to north. The greatest player of our generation getting stuffed by the 20-year-old cornerstone.
It may very well be a message to the league: The Nets are here.
As for Jarrett? He’s one of the NBA’s best rim protectors this season, holding defenders below 58 percent within six feet of the hoop. That’s right up there in the ranks of Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert and Clint Capela. He’s also top-20 for blocks per game with 1.47.
So while LeBron James might not have given Allen the credit or recognition he deserved, others are starting to. He’s giving them no other choice.
Just ask Blake Griffin.
***
And since we’re royally pissed at The King, here’s a reminder that Allen isn’t the only Brooklyn Net on that list. From April 2014...
Good.Night