James: Durant is tough to defend at every stage; I was quite injured and had to recover round-the-clock to play this game.

On March 17 Beijing time, the Lakers defeated the Rockets 100-92 away. James scored 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, while his longtime rival Durant also had 18 points and 5 rebounds. The Lakers used a double-team tactic against Durant, leading the Rockets scorer to make 7 turnovers. After the game, James spoke to the media about the match and Durant—

Reporter: LeBron, just after playing a physically and mentally draining game against Denver, then facing a team like the Rockets, you knew it would be a tough battle. How did you bring the necessary defense and energy in the second half?

James: As I said before, you can’t linger too long on the previous game because the next one comes right away. Like I always say about the wild West, every opponent is challenging.

We had to understand the Rockets’ traits: physicality, athleticism, all of that. We just had to match their intensity. Obviously, they attacked the boards aggressively; our defensive rebounding and protection weren’t great, but we stuck to executing the game plan.

Limiting them to around 35 points in the second half was the key to winning. We settled down defensively.

Reporter: You know Durant’s ability better than anyone. What was crucial in making it hard for him to even receive the ball and forcing so many turnovers?

James: Trying to show him different defensive looks throughout the game. He’s one of the greatest players we’ve ever seen, so you just keep switching defenses to disrupt his rhythm, then pray he misses when he shoots—since he rarely misses.

I think we did well, having a game plan and constantly changing defensive tactics. You can’t use the same defense all game against a player of that caliber; he’d quickly find his groove. So we kept adjusting, and it worked.

Reporter: Compared to early in the season, how do you assess the team’s defensive commitment now?

James: I don’t compare to early season; I only talk about the present. We focus on what we need to do now, and today we did it. We got better today, tomorrow we can review areas to improve, and hopefully take another step next game.

Reporter: What about the team’s fourth-quarter performance? Your shooting was poor, but you kept defending and didn’t panic. What does that say about your defensive level?

James: It’s kind of like playoff basketball. Sometimes it’s like that: two playoff-caliber teams both desperate to score, yet needing to stay focused on both ends. In playoffs sometimes you can’t rely just on offense; you have to dig in and stop the opponent.

Reporter: You handled possessions well this game, only one turnover in the fourth quarter, ending with a 24-second violation. Even without scoring, you avoided careless mistakes. What did you do right?

James: We didn’t let them dictate the pace. They’re physical and athletic, easily speeding up the game. But we did well not getting dragged into their tempo, sticking to taking our shots.

Reporter: What do you think about Ayton’s performance in the closing stretch?

James: Outstanding. He sat on the bench for so long, stayed focused, came in and took over the finish—putback dunk, little hook shot, rebounds—helped us secure the win steadily.

Reporter: Having such highlights in Year 23 is really impressive. The first-half dunk over Jabari Smith Jr., the second-half alley-oop with Reaves… Do those plays surprise even you?

James: Sometimes they do.

Reporter: Were any of those plays unexpected for you?

James: Not particularly surprising. In the first-half play, I saw him chasing; he’s a great shot-blocker, so I had to dunk it straight. The alley-oop with Reaves, I told him to pass it, so I had to grab it.

But at this stage of my career, after some plays, I do get surprised myself.

Reporter: In the Denver game you fought so hard, falling all over, it looked really brutal.

James: I haven’t shown you my hip injury; I definitely won’t post it, it’s too severe. I was really hurt badly, and the night before coming here was rough too. But last night I slept nine and a half hours, woke up feeling better. Today I did rehab, treatment, activation—that allowed me to play tonight. Really round-the-clock recovery.

Reporter: Last question. Durant said the Heat-era you was the toughest he ever defended. Which version of Kevin do you think was the hardest for you to defend?

James: Uh… every version was tough. He’s genuinely kept getting better and better.

Obviously, when he was with the Warriors, the system was unstoppable. You dared not double-team much because Klay and Curry were always threats. So that combination was really impactful. And when he was with the Nets, though a smaller sample, when Irving and Harden were on court, you similarly couldn’t double.

Any time you face a scorer of that caliber and can’t double-team, defending becomes extremely, extremely difficult. We faced each other in the Finals too. Even when he was young, playing with Westbrook and Harden… he’s never been anything but great at basketball. So, every era was equally tough to defend.