During his four-year stint with the Heat, LeBron James was arguably the most dominant player in the NBA. He rarely had an off night and put on a show on both ends of the floor. Outplaying him was a near-impossible task but once in a blue moon, a superstar of Kevin Durant’s caliber would pull off the feat, as Norris Cole witnessed firsthand.
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During an appearance on Jeff Teague’s Club 520 Podcast. the former Heat guard discussed his time with the franchise and his experience sharing the locker room with James for four years. During their conversation, Cole claimed that he saw the four-time MVP get outplayed only once. He said,
“I’ve only seen Bron get outdo…when I was there, one time. He got his get back so it didn’t matter but that was when we played OKC on Christmas. He went for like 30-something and KD…might’ve had one or two points more. They were out there dueling to the point where it was like, okay, whichever one of them is leading scorer, that’s whose team was going to win.”
In a battle between the reigning Eastern Conference champions Heat and defending Western Conference champions Thunder on Christmas Day in 2012, James put on a clinic and finished with 29 points, eight rebounds, nine assists, two steals, and a block in 42 minutes. While the forward was exceptional on the night, Durant was slightly better.
The then-OKC superstar scored 33 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and dished three assists in 39 minutes. He shot 52.4% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. His valiant effort wasn’t enough, as the Heat won 103-97.
Durant and James have faced off four times on Christmas Day. The latter has a 3-1 record. However, Durant has always outperformed the four-time NBA champion in their Christmas Day battles.
In the other three games, the forward has dropped 36 points, 25 points, and 21 points in 2016, 2017, and 2018 respectively. James on the other hand has finished with 31, 20, and 17 points. Even outside their Christmas duels, the two icons have faced off in several big games against one another.
They have battled in the NBA Finals thrice, with James winning the first and Durant winning the next two. Few can boast about consistently outplaying James in games against him, but Durant is among the exceptions.
