Monday night marked the 31st regular season matchup between two of the greatest small forwards to ever play the game of basketball, as LeBron James and Kevin Durant prepared to do battle once again. In the end, James earned his 20th regular season win over Durant after the Los Angeles Lakers blocked Durant en route to a 100–92 victory.
Durant faced an aggressive Lakers defensive scheme designed to take the ball out of his hands, and as a result he was limited to two points in the second half. This led to a late-game surge from LA, allowing them to build a more comfortable cushion against the third seed in the Western Conference.
After the game, James gave Durant the greatest form of respect Having said that, it's difficult to guard every version of the Rockets star and in every single game, he gets as much respect as the Lakers gave him on Monday.
"Every edition. He's getting better and better," James said via @ohnohedidnt24 on X (formerly Twitter). "We had a fight in the finals, too. Even when he was younger, when it was him and Russ and James, he was never good at basketball."
“Is there a version of Kevin? [Durant] Would you say he’s the toughest player you’ve had to guard?”
LeBron James: "Sh*t, every version. He keeps getting better... He's never been great at basketball."pic.twitter.com/4SF0BiWzEE
- ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) 17 March 2026
Lakers star LeBron James highlights major problem for Rockets
James said in his post-game comments that defending Durant becomes more difficult when he is allowed to go one-on-one – which he was not on Monday night.
James added, "He was extremely dynamic in Golden State because you can't have a lot of bodies on him all the time because of the threat of Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson)."
“Any time you can't put that many bodies in front of a great player who has the ability to score the ball, it's very challenging."
A first-round matchup between James and Durant is likely, especially with the competition for spots three through six in the West standings so tight.
