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Young Australian Dante Exum is expecting an impending maiden NBA playoffs series to be among the toughest challenges of his career.
With five regular-season games remaining, the guard’s Utah Jazz are embedded inside the Western Conference’s playoffs cut-off in fourth place.
The Jazz missed out on playoffs in Exum’s rookie season in 2014-15 before a knee injury sidelined him in 2015-2016.
But after a solid past two months when he’s enjoyed more court time, he believes he’s ready to be exposed to the pressure of playoffs basketball.
“For the fans to be excited, it’s good. I’m excited, too,” Exum told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s (Wednesday AEST) clash with Portland.
“I think it’s going to be a great experience. I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve had to play a team four, five, six, seven times.
“That’s a challenge in itself. We’re not only going to know everything about them, all their tendencies, they’re going to know all about us.
“Going into that type of situation is going to show me truly as a player – seeing where they force me and what I do in that situation.”
After his place in the team appeared shaky mid-season when he was regularly left on the bench by coach Quin Snyder, Exum has expressed confidence in his body.
Exum said a huge driving dunk in Utah’s loss to San Antonio on Sunday was evidence he was getting over his knee issues.
“It’s always good to explode off my left. I’ve worked on it for a while,” he said.
“I’ve had a few missed dunks the last couple of games, so it’s continuing to keep going at that and hopefully can be on a defender, use my strength and my power to power through it and make the shot.”
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