The Golden State’s defensive leader Draymond Green has seen enough of LeBron James in action during his career. Now, he plays against Luka Doncic who dominates the game similarly, as Green admitted during his latest podcast.
Green has faced the Lakers‘ superstar in four consecutive NBA Finals, when James was on Cleveland. He played against Doncic in the last few games and found the similarities between the future Hall of Famer and Doncic.
“And speaking of Luka Doncic, and LeBron James, and the comparisons that are being made to those two guys. One of the main, glaring similarities that stick out at you is how those two guys can manipulate a defense, how those two guys can control the pace of a game,” Green said.
At their size, with their passing ability, and the way they can put pressure on the rim, and pressure on the defense, and with the vision that they have, they’re a lot alike. There’s not many people in this league that can control a game, or control the tempo and the pace of a game like that.”
Doncic has one of the greatest individual playoff runs in the last few seasons as the Mavericks advance to the Conference Finals after 11 seasons. Doncic put up 40+ points in seven occasions as of now.
With Dallas being down 2-0 he has at least two more games to set a new record for the youngest player to put up the most 40+ point games in a postseason run. The holder of the record is a 25-year old LeBron James, who had eight with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
While Doncic doesn’t have the athleticism of James, he can create for others or himself and put defenders in a tough position to react at times. The Warriors‘ star even pointed to the fact that Doncic looked up to James growing up.
“They definitely have similarities and then you look up and it all makes sense. Luka has said over and over again LeBron’s favorite player growing up. And then you’re actually blessed with that size that Luka has, it all makes sense to why there are similarities there cuz they’re definitely there and it feels a lot like playing against LeBron, playing against Luka every possession.”
The Warriors are up 2-0 in the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. With the series reverting to Dallas, tonight, Doncic and his teammates will have to be at their best to avoid an 3-0 deficit.
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