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Because the Thunder dismantled the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving-less Nets Thursday, Lu Dort displayed his newest stellar efficiency in opposition to James Harden.
Dort completed with 27 factors on a season-high six made 3-pointers, capturing 60% from behind the arc. It was his fifth-highest recreation rating of the season, in line with basketball reference.
Dort’s seemingly fixed nice performances in opposition to the longer term Corridor of Famer beg the query: Is he actually that a lot better when taking part in Harden?
Nicely, let’s have a look.
Dort has confronted Harden ten instances in his profession, with six of these coming in video games two by way of seven of the 2019-20 OKC-Houston playoff sequence.
In these ten video games the Thunder are 5-5. Dort has averaged 14 factors in these video games, with that quantity leaping to 19 factors within the three video games since that playoff sequence.
For reference, Dort’s profession common is 12.7 factors per recreation and is 15.1 since that breakout playoff sequence.
So Dort’s scoring numbers get a slight bump in opposition to the All-Star, however what about his protection?
Dort is called a protection first participant and that has completely proven up when guarding Harden.
The NBA world acquired its first actual glimpse at what Dort may do in Recreation 7 of that playoff sequence with the Rockets — taking the project of attempting to close down the league’s most potent scorer.
The underdog Thunder ultimately misplaced the sport, however Dort’s affect was entrance and middle — holding Harden to 17 factors on 4-15 capturing.
That protection has proven up a number of instances between these two, with Dort outsourcing Harden in 4 of the ten conferences.
Within the three conferences for the reason that bubble, Harden has been held barely beneath his averages over that span — placing up 22.3 factors on 42.9% capturing vs. Dort in comparison with 23.7 factors on 44.4% capturing.
Last verdict: Dort has had a few of the greatest performances of his profession in opposition to Harden, together with a 30-point Recreation 7 efficiency which could simply be the perfect of his profession. He has, nonetheless, had simply as many forgettable ones.
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