Draymond Green is bracing himself for the task of defending Luka Doncic ahead of the Golden State Warriors' rematch against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
Speaking with ESPN's Rachel Nichols, the three-time All-Star revealed why the Mavs star is trickier to guard than most players.
“As a defender, your only goal is to make a guy do something that he don't want to do. If you can do that on the defensive end more often than not, you're going to be successful,” the Warriors forward explained.
“With Luka, you kind of can't make him do what you want him to do. He made a statement last year where he said ‘it's easier for me to score in the NBA than it was in Europe'. And everybody went crazy, like how disrespectful is he. He's shown that it's true. “
Draymond talks to @Rachel__Nichols about the challenges of defending Luka 👀 pic.twitter.com/ogCUkaDzGZ
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 6, 2021
Now on his third season in the NBA, Luka Doncic continues to be a handful to contain even for the best defenders in the league. Draymond Green can certainly attest to this. The former Rookie of the Year does possess the full package offensively, norming 27.2 points on 45.9 percent shooting from the field. He is also doing pretty much everything for the Mavs, collecting 8.8 rebounds, 9.4 assists and 1.0 steal in 22 games so far.
He was once again a thorn to the side of the Dubs in their last outing, putting up 27 points, six rebounds and six assists. Green and company, however, carved out a 147-116 victory against Luka's Mavs.
As far as Green is concerned, the Slovenian prodigy's innate ability to score makes him one of the toughest covers in the league today. Still, he embraces the challenge and will look to hold him down for the second game in a row.
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