The Phoenix Suns accomplished something against LeBron James in their 109-105 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers Monday that no team has done in nearly 17 years.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Phoenix (3-1) held James to 3-of-14 shooting from the floor. This 21.4% shooting percentage is James’ lowest since he shot 18.2% (2-for-11) on Oct. 31, 2007 with the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Dallas Mavericks.
LeBron James shot his lowest field goal percentage in a regular season game since 2007 ???? pic.twitter.com/Q5T7ZmvyOJ
— ESPN (@espn) October 29, 2024
James still maintained his unfathomable 1,226 game streak with 10 or more points despite the low shooting percentage, as he finished with 11 points. The 40-year-old swished home a contested 3-pointer with 1:58 remaining to move his point total from seven to 10 and keep the streak alive.
LeBron’s streak lives on!
That’s now 1,226 straight games with 10+ points. It was almost snapped pic.twitter.com/NUAn0Zb9z6
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) October 29, 2024
“He’s such a great player,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said of James postgame. “He always deserves a ton of attention, a ton of effort. There was, I thought, the individual pride and the guys guarding him. I thought Mase (Mason Plumlee), his verticality, his length at the rim and even the other guys, Royce (O’Neale) and Ryan (Dunn), are developing a knack for contesting shots and making it tough in the paint and also, with Kevin’s (Durant) length at the rim.
“I think it’s a little bit of everything and sometimes they just have an off night. He’s such a great player, I don’t know if there’s anything that we did.”
Suns stars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant are very familiar with James, who was coming off a 32-point outing in a win over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, as the three of them won an Olympic gold medal together with Team USA this summer at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“(We were) just throwing multiple bodies at him, trying to make it tough on him, trying to wear him out throughout the game, and that’s hard to do,” Booker said. “We seen his last game versus Sacramento. (Doing that) on the second night of a back to back at his age is simply unheard of.
“Guys like that you just want to wear them down the most you can, and switching bodies between Royce, Brad(ley Beal) and Ryan. They all did excellent jobs on him.”
“He’s such a great player.”
Praising LeBron James, Phoenix Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer spoke about his players taking pride in defending him and understanding what that entails.#SunsUp #NBA #LakeShow https://t.co/Ls0ZppehED pic.twitter.com/2F67WNZbsw
— Burn City Suns ☀️ (@BurnCitySuns) October 29, 2024
This was already the second meeting between the Suns and Lakers (3-1) this season. They will next take on each other on Nov. 26 in Phoenix in the group play stage of the second-annual NBA Cup.
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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
