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Former Arizona State guards Luguentz Dort and James Harden will square off in the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs when the Oklahoma City Thunder play the Houston Rockets.
This will be the first meeting between the squads since January 20, when the Thunder squeezed out a 112-107 victory. It was also the only time Harden and Dort played against each other this season.
While guarding one of the most offensively-gifted players in the league, Dort held Harden to only eight points on 2-13 shooting from the field, and forcing two turnovers.
Dort, who recently signed a multi-year deal with the Thunder, has been tasked with guarding some of the top-offensive players in the league since he took over a starting position in January.
After picking up Lebron James full-court in the seeding games, teammate Steven Adams commented on Lu’s defensive presence saying, “he's an animal.”
Another day, another LU DORT BREAKDOWN
— Let's talk NBA (@NBArath23) August 6, 2020
this time he slowed down the king himself.
reminder: he's only 6'3
LeBron was 1/5(20%) when lu dort guarded him
LeBron is really rusty.
This is at the request of my guy @ThunderChats
RT's APPRECIATED#nba #NBATwitter #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/KRum2Db2CF
Harden, on the other hand, has been dominate in the NBA Bubble. He was recently named to the All-Bubble First Team, averaging 34.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 8.9 assists, and 2.7 steals in the seven game restart.
There is no doubt that Dort will be guarding Harden a lot this series, so get your popcorn, Sun Devil fans, it is going to be quite the show.
The entire schedule can be found here, with the first game tipping off Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. MST.
#Rockets-Thunder playoff series schedule: pic.twitter.com/UtO9WosqSH
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) August 13, 2020