Los Angeles Clippers guard Terance Mann has a history of battling Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic on the court. The two met again this year in the first-round playoff series.
Mann discussed guarding the Slovenian during a recent episode of Podcast P with Paul George, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment.
“Sh*t, it ain’t easy. I’ll tell you that,” Mann said. “I think it is more mental than anything with me because he’s going to make the tough shots. He’s going to take the tough shots and you see them go in, you think you playing good defense, you see them go in. It’s just tough.
“The pump fake he going to get you a couple times in the series. He got P [Paul George] a couple times. I don’t know why he got P, after I told him to stay down on the move but he still jump. But yea, I think mentally it’s just taxing, but a lot of film is helping me out and the coaches for sure.”
Mann’s teammate Paul George remarked how the Clippers share their insights into guarding Doncic and his tendencies on the court.
“I think it’s great with so many defensive guys on the team it’s fun to have and take our own notes,” George said. “It’s like we all have and take our own notes at the end of the quarter, at the end of the game, and share with each other what we’ve collected of how to guard guys.
“So I think that is a benefit that we have and a luxury that we have with so many good defenders on our team is that we can, [say] ‘hey, when he does this look for that, when he has the ball on this side, he’s looking to do more of this.’ So it is a cool thing. We did this after game three.”
