By Ryan Miller

SALT LAKE CITY — Taylor Hendricks lived through it just last week and he saw it on clip after clip, but when Luka Doncic is ball faking it's hard not to jump.

"You literally have to think about it every second," Hendricks said following Utah's 115-105 loss to the Dallas Mavericks Monday.

The rookie forward has received a crash course on how to defend maybe the league's most dynamic offensive weapon over the last week. Twice in the last three games, Hendricks has had to try and check Doncic.

There have been successes, like helping hold Doncic to 3-of-12 shooting in the first half of Monday's game. And there's been plenty of times that Doncic made Hendricks look like the rookie he is. Doncic scored 20 points in the second half on Monday on his way to his standard triple-double.

Jazz coach Will Hardy said it's good for Hendricks to be able to see that type of player so close in succession. It allowed Hendricks to lock in on some of Doncic's tendencies and try to build habits when it comes to scouting personnel.

"I think this gives Taylor in particular a good opportunity to try to build on some things that he learned last time we played," Hardy said.

So what were Hendricks's takeaways from the second matchup?

"Just how smart he is," Hendricks said. "He's gonna try and use his body. I don't feel like he's more athletic than me or faster than me but right now I feel like he's smarter than me."

That knowledge will grow in time.

The Jazz rookie has only been receiving rotation minutes for just over six weeks. In that span, he's become a regular starter and often draws the opposing team's top offensive weapon. With each small victory — there admittedly haven't been many team ones — his confidence grows. His teammates are seeing that.

https://www.ksl.com/article/50961515/how-taylor-hendricks-is-handling-guarding-the-nbas-best-