Minnesota Timberwolves 'Luka Doncic Stopper' Jaden McDaniels to Play vs. Dallas Mavs: 'You Can Feel Competitive Nature'
The Dallas Mavericks (15-8) take on the Western Conference's top-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves (17-5) on Thursday night looking for their fifth consecutive win, which would be a new season high.
Dallas is coming off an exciting win over the LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, and Minnesota is coming off a tough loss to Zion Williamson's New Orleans Pelicans on Monday. Heading into this one, Wolves star Anthony Edwards and defensive-minded role player Jaden McDaniels were both listed as questionable, but both will suit up, meaning the Mavs will have to bring their A-game in order to pull out a win.
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As great of a player as Luka Doncic is, he has always struggled when playing against the Wolves, and McDaniel's length and relentless defensive pressure has played a big part in that. However, both players respect each other, and McDaniels spoke on what it's like to play against Doncic during his pregame media session.
"I just try and stay in front of him. I don’t really care how many moves you do, I’m just going to stay right there and just be annoying. I just try to do that. It’s hard, but I don’t know how I do it," McDaniels said. "You can feel that competitive nature when we play, but there ain’t no talking or [anything like] that. Just respecting each other."
In 13 games against the Wolves, Doncic averages 23.0 points on 42.6 percent shooting overall and 27.6 percent from deep. It's Doncic's second-lowest scoring average vs. a single team in his career, with the first being against the Chicago Bulls. With Doncic being in the best shape of his career and being on an MVP tear over the last four games, we'll see if this time around against Minnesota will be different.
