What makes Thunder's Lu Dort impossible to screen? Mavericks must 'brace for the hit'

Only in Mark Daigneault’s lexicon is it a compliment to call someone a punching bag.

Metaphorically speaking, punching bags are easy targets of abuse. Often they’re scapegoats. They’re picked on.

Ironic, because Thunder guard Lu Dort is the punching bag who can’t be picked.

Seriously, how do you screen the guy? The Pelicans tried and failed to shake Brandon Ingram free from Dort. Time and again, Dort would snake his way around the screen or shoulder his way through it.

Dort can dance like Barry Sanders or deliver detonating blows a la Adrian Peterson.

Whatever it takes to evade the screener and stick to his man.

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Dort didn’t disrupt Luka Doncic in Game 2 the way Dort did in Game 1, but it’s not like Doncic had tons of breathing room in his 29-point night. He just got hot from 3-point range and happens to be one of the best tough-shot makers in the game.

Dort vs. Doncic will continue to be one of the series-defining matchups heading into Games 3 and 4 in Dallas. The Mavericks seized home-court advantage with a Game 2 win in Oklahoma City, and now it’s up to Dort and the Thunder to take it back.

Doncic ran the fifth-most pick-and-rolls per game in the regular season behind only Trae Young, LaMelo Ball, Cade Cunningham and Jalen Brunson. According to stats.nba.com, Doncic ranked in the 93rd percentile in points per possession as the pick-and-roll ball handler.

While some defenses will give up the defensive switch, allowing a maestro like Doncic to dictate his preferred matchup, Dort often sticks with his primary assignment, acting as the glue that bonds the Thunder’s defense.

“You can screen him hard and it doesn’t impact his next pursuit,” Daigneault said of Dort. “You can make a tough shot on him and it doesn’t impact his next shot contest, and you can have a great game against him and it doesn’t impact his next outing. It’s just what he is. It’s what he’s been all along.”

But really, how does one successfully screen Dort?

“You have to square him up and brace for the hit,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s gonna deliver the hit.”

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Kidd might as well have been coaching up a puny linebacker tasked with tackling Jerome Bettis. Typically it’s the Mavericks bigs of Daniel Gafford and Derrick Lively II bracing for Dort to inflict damage.

It’s no wonder why boxing and football phrases are so applicable to describing Dort’s game. Basketball is a contact sport, but Dort brings a terrifying degree of physicality to the court.

He’s savvy, too, having also mastered the art of drawing illegal screens.

And despite being carved from tungsten, Dort is shifty.

“It’s the combination of the physical profile and his quickness, his lateral quickness,” Daigneault said when asked about Dort’s unscreenability. “... And then you add the fact that he’s relentless as a competitor.”

Like a punching bag, taking hit after hit.

“Even if you get him on a given night or given possession,” Daigneault said, “he’s gonna keep coming.”

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Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Thunder vs Mavericks: Why OKC's Luguentz Dort is impossible to screen