“He is a walking computer,” said Channing Fyre, who had once come under the mercy of LeBron James‘ aggression. In recent times, there have been plenty of reports and opinions writing off the King of the sport, stating that he lacks ‘𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁er instincts’. But, fans from the early 2010s, know of his menace. While there are plenty of examples that could back the claim, the one from a 2014 game against the Phoenix Suns is a classic example. A costly mistake from a teammate left PJ Tucker running for his life!

Rather than diving right into the moment, we will go through the perspectives of hoopers who were involved in the game for the raw scoop. The details slowly faded away in the following years, but it again surfaced when Archie Goodwin brought it up last year. People say, never poke the bear and we have heard it several times on the NBA hardwood as well. This LeBron James story is exactly that.

Goodwin referred to the incident where one of his teammates, whose name he refused to reveal, woke up a sleeping giant with his trash-talk from the bench. However, the hooper later revealed himself. It was Dionte Christmas. He reposted Goodwin’s perspective and wrote, “That teammate was me almost lost my job that day,” with a flurry of laughing emojis. Now that we have established the conflict, let’s go into the details.

Archie Goodwin recalls the 2014 February home game at the Valley where the Miami Heat won by 16 points. Before Dionte Christmas could poke the bear, LeBron James had a slow start which Goodwin recounted, “He ain’t been doin’ nothin’ all game.’ It was third quarter, so he had been chillin’. We were only down four or five. He only had six points.” And to further back it up, Channing Fyre, who played on the Suns’ line-up also revealed that King James had a “semi-quiet game” in a recent podcast. A classic case of ‘speaking too soon’.

LeBron James dismantled the Suns, especially PJ Tucker after playful banter got serious

If at all, the Suns left LeBron James to have a quiet game, maybe things would’ve changed. But, Dionte Christmas had to ruin it for the team. During the third quarter, Bron caught the ball on the wing while PJ Tucker was all over his face, guarding him. While everyone on the sidelines watched the play, a particular voice shouted, “Yo, we livin with that s**t. Shoot that broke a** s**t. We livin with it.” That was it. King James passed the ball, looked straight back at Christmas, and said, “What you say?” 

On the other end, coaches and teammates sitting on the bench pounced back at Dionte Christmas, trying to shush him. But it was already too late. LeBron James turned up his burners and PJ Tucker was at the receiving end, as he guarded the superstar. The Chosen One repeatedly outsmarted the Suns defender, finishing the game with 37 points, and 9 rebounds while going 12 of 22 from the field!

Speaking of the game, in the Club 520 Podcast last year, PJ Tucker said, “I thought I could guard like really really guard Bron. until that point then I was like he just showed out he’s unstoppable.” Moreover, it wasn’t just PJ Tucker, the rest of the team also felt the heat as LeBron James turned up the heat, dunking and stealing the passes. What do you make of it?