LeBron James has scored 10 or more points in 1,188 straight regular season games, a streak that has lasted since Jan. 5, 2007 and seems pretty much unbreakable.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!However, the Phoenix Suns and Kevin Durant almost broke this streak last night with their defense on James in Phoenix’s 127-109 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers last night.
James finished with 10 points on 3-of-11 (27.3%) shooting against Phoenix. It was the first time James shot under 30% from the floor this season.
Entering the game, James had scored over 30 points in the last two meetings against the Suns, and the Lakers had won five straight over Phoenix dating back to last season.
So what changed last night for Phoenix when guarding James?
When asked about the Suns’ impressive defensive effort in totality last night, coach Frank Vogel had to first mention Durant’s effort on James.
“I’d like to start defensively by talking about KD’s effort, taking the matchup of guarding LeBron for 48 (minutes),” Vogel said postgame. “In the past, we’ve sort of held that to late game, and he did a great job from from the opening tip just battling LeBron. Obviously, it’s LeBron James and the scouting report starts with him, so I want to credit KD there.”
Durant’s defensive effort might be overshadowed by what Bradley Beal and Devin Booker did offensively last night, but it definitely was a major key in getting Phoenix the victory.
Beal finished with a season-high 37 points and Booker had 31 of his own. Durant ended the game with 18 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. These three steals tied Durant’s season high in that category, as he also accomplished this feat in the Suns’ Dec. 31 victory over the Orlando Magic.
Durant, who has had some historic battles against James, detailed his defensive approach to stop James.
“Just play as hard as I can, just try to get into the ball as much as I can,” Durant said. “Bron is a guy that can attack from every angle of the floor, so you got to be on your toes at all times. He’s just so clever when it comes to his attacks and his approaches to the offensive side of the ball. I just tried to play hard, but also my teammates were there for me to help and be inside the paint and help contest as well, be in passing lanes to make life tougher for their best player. (Even with) AD (Anthony Davis) and LeBron, the top scorer in their starting lineup was 13 points. I mean, we can live with that.”
Durant feels that the team getting better defensively around the Big 3 will be the catalyst for their offense to continue to roll. The Suns are now 3-4 in games their Big 3 have played in together and snapped a two-game losing streak last night.
“We’ve had games where it’s clicking for us on the offensive side of the ball,” Durant said. “But I think defensively when we talking to each other and understanding where we all need to be on the defensive side of the ball, then the offense becomes easier. I just feel like we got to be on a string more and have a little bit more togetherness on the defensive side of the ball and that will feed into our offense.”
35 years old KD with 1 Achilles locked up the "GOAT"😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/H7mnH2Yk2C
— Mista Durant (@Benignhairav) January 12, 2024
An Overall Great Defensive Effort
Bradley Beal himself outscored the Lakers’ “Big 3” of James, Davis (13 points) and Austin Reaves (13 points) 37-36 for the whole game.
Bradley Beal:
𝟯𝟳 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀LeBron, AD, Reaves combined:
𝟯𝟲 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 pic.twitter.com/IXUo9mUQWI— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) January 12, 2024
After the game, Vogel had to mention the Suns’ defensive attention to detail first to his team in the locker room.
Total team win.
☄️ KD and Nurk setting the tone defensively
☄️ Book and Brad with their offensive performances
☄️ Defensive Detail📽️ Hear from Head Coach Frank Vogel following last night's victory. pic.twitter.com/3TRkKJNUzc
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) January 12, 2024
Booker spoke to media about the Suns’ defense on James and Davis after the game.
“(We were) just making sure they see bodies,” Booker said. “Guys like that you can never stop. You just want to make it tough on them and limit their touches, make them work for touches. When they get the ball, crowd in and make the other guys do it. But in a way, that’s not disrespectful to the other guys because they have a lot of other talented players over there. So (it’s a) good balance of making other guys do it, but not (allowing) wide open shots.”
Vogel detailed more extensively on how the Suns were able to limit the Lakers’ stars beyond Durant’s effort on James, giving a lot of credit to Jusuf Nurkić for limiting Davis to only 13 points.
“Nurk battled Anthony,” Vogel said. “Drew Eubanks, our backup center was out. (Udoka Azubuike) came in and helped a little bit, but for the most part Nurk matched AD’s minutes and battled him the best he could one-on-one. And then the team defense, just flooding the pain as much as we can and giving him support.”
The Suns (now 20-18) will look to carry this defensive effort into their next game on Sunday night against the Portland Trail Blazers (10-27).
Bradley Beal scores season-high 37 points against Lakers: Highlights and reaction
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
