Dort’s goal? Make teams pay for leaving him open
This is how good Luguentz Dort has defended the unstoppable James Harden.
The Oklahoma City Thunder encouraged him to keep shooting in their 114-80 Game 5 loss Saturday against Houston despite watching him clank one after another off the rim.
“To see the guys supporting Lu in terms of encouraging to shoot when he’s open,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “I thought there were some he hesitated on.”
Dort went 3-of-16 from the field, going a catastrophic 0-for-9 from 3 as the Thunder are now down 3-2 going into Monday’s Game 6 at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
“I think part of his growth is understanding when to shoot some, when to drive some and when to pass some,” Donovan continued. “He probably had a mix of a lot of those in the game. With the way that he’s guarded James Harden in this series, he’s done a great job. He just didn’t have a good offensive night.”
As great as Dort has played defensively, he’s shot just a bleak from 3 in his first postseason.
So while the undrafted rookie after a one-and-done season at Arizona State is building a early rep for playing physical and aggressive defense, the next step for him is to make defenses pay for leaving him open on the other end.
“Keep playing and keep taking the open shots when they’re there,” Thunder All-Star point guard Chris Paul said. “It’s one game. We play the next game, get the same shots there. We want myself, Lu and all the other guys to take the same shots.”
Considering Dort shot 29.7% from 3 during the regular season and nearly half of his field goal attempts (218) were from distance (101), he’ll likely stay on the same shooting trend come Monday. He’s capable of catching fire on 3s as evidence of his 4-of-5 effort from distance in a “seeding” game loss August 8 to Memphis.
However, Dort shot 4-of-23 on 3s in his remaining six “seeding” games.
The Thunder will likely need Dort to finding the range or do a better job of mixing up his offensive game, along with continuing to defend Harden, to help force a decisive Game 7, which would be Wednesday, if necessary.
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