“You don’t shut Luka Doncic down” - Draymond Green says All-Star teammate played amazing vs the Dallas Mavericks, says you have to make it tough for Luka
The Golden State Warriors had the better of Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals. The Warriors claimed the advantage with a blowout win of 25 points in their first home game of the series.
A major reason for the loss was the low scoring performance from Mavericks talisman Doncic, who recorded his lowest scoring outing of the postseason. The 2019 Rookie of the Year was good for 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists on the night, while giving off seven turnovers.
He recorded a .333 field goal percentage, netting 6 of 18 and 3 of 10 from the three-point line, thereby registering a three-point accuracy of 30.0%.
Everyone is celebrating the Warriors for being able to shut down Luka Doncic for the first time in the postseason. However, Draymond Green insists the Mavs' guard cannot be shut down. He shared that such a player can only be given a tough time on the court but cannot ultimately be shut down.
"You'd say he had his worst shooting game of his career, statistically speaking, and you know, some people will say, 'Oh, he was shut down,' Green stated. "You don't shut Luka Doncic down! Even in shutting him down, he had 20 points like you don't stop guys like that from scoring. They're going to score, your job is to make it tough on him and Wiggins did that."
Draymond Green suggests Andrew Wiggins should be credited for keeping Luka Doncic quiet in Game 1
Andrew Wiggins was assigned to Doncic guarding duty and he did quite a good job at it, keeping the electric shooter at bay. He recorded 19 points, five rebounds and three assists on the night but was highly influential in reducing Doncic's high scoring power to give his team the advantage.
Andrew Wiggins scored 19 points and played solid defense on Luka Doncic in Golden State’s win over Dallas in Game 1 of NBA Western Conference finals. trib.al/xJx82tk
Draymond Green believes the game was won with Wiggins putting up an amazing defense. He insisted that the forward deserves credit as he was incredible on both ends of the court.
"Andrew Wiggins played amazing defense," Green said. "He picked him up 94 feet. He got into him. He didn't allow him to dictate the terms on his own pace. You got to give Wiggins a lot of credit. He was also in attack mode on the offensive.
"And I think when I look at the performance that Wiggins had, on the defensive end it was relentless. It was taking on that challenge. And when you're playing against a guy like Luka Doncic, you need someone to take on that challenge."