Thunder’s Plan to Slow Down Mavs' Luka Doncic: ‘Make Sure Lu is On Time’

Mark Daigneault joked about the Thunder’s game plan at practice on Monday.

Jan 17, 2022; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) shoots over Oklahoma City / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

As Oklahoma City prepares to slow down Dallas’ superstar duo, the plan is simple. The Thunder’s best defender, Lu Dort, will play a huge role in slowing down MVP candidate Luka Doncic.

Doncic has been unbelievable all season, nearly averaging a 30-point triple-double. Nobody will be able to slow him down completely, but the Thunder will try to make things difficult for him. There’s no blueprint to stopping Doncic, or Kyrie Irving for that matter, but Mark Daigneault will put a lot of trust in his individual defenders to pull through.

At practice on Monday, reporters asked about the game plan to stop Doncic, and Daigneault responded in rare form with a lighthearted joke.

“Just make sure Lu (Dort) is on time for the game,” he said.

Dort will certainly be on time for the game, and might even be full-court guarding Doncic on his way from the Omni to the Paycom Center for shoot-around. 

Oklahoma City’s defensive stopper has matched minutes with his star matchup all season long, including last series against Brandon Ingram. Dort held Ingram to 14.3 points per game on 34.5% shooting and 25% from 3-point range in the Thunder’s sweep of the Pelicans. Doncic will certainly be a much tougher matchup, but Dort loves the big moment.

Daigneault had a few more words, this time serious, for how the Thunder plan to handle Doncic and the Mavericks.

“Make sure Dub is pressuring,” Daigneault said. “We have some dogs that we have a lot of confidence in, and we have a team behind those guys. They’re not on an island against a player like him. Cason Wallace, you’re not on an island against a player like him. 

“We all have to be locked in, but we’re gonna depend on our guys. We have a lot of confidence in our guys, and we’re excited to see what it looks like.”

It’ll be a team effort to slow down Doncic and Irving, but the pressure will fall on Dort’s shoulders. He’ll be glued onto Doncic for however many minutes the Mavericks star plays on Tuesday night and could have a huge impact.

Traditionally, Dort has always risen to the occasion. The bigger the game, the bigger the performance from Dort. It feels like Daigneault expects Tuesday to be more of the same.

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