“I Like Big Games”: Luka Dončić Ready to Make Lakers Playoff Debut vs. Timberwolves
After seven days of rest, the Lakers star is healthy, focused, and eager to chase a championship with LeBron James and a reloaded supporting cast.
Luka Dončić has worn purple and gold for only two and a half months, but he’s already shown why the Los Angeles Lakers traded for him in a franchise-altering deal that sent Anthony Davis to Dallas. Now, with the postseason set to begin, Dončić is preparing to remind the league why he’s one of the most electric players in basketball.
“I like big games,” Dončić said Thursday. “The playoffs is a fun time. Everybody plays 100%. It’s just fun to be out there.”
The Lakers open their first-round series Saturday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves — a rematch of last season’s Western Conference Finals, when Dončić led Dallas past Minnesota in five games. He averaged 32.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, 8.2 assists, and 2.2 steals in that series, including a step-back 3-pointer over Rudy Gobert that sealed the Mavericks’ return to the NBA Finals.
That moment was featured in a recent tribute video played during Dončić’s emotional return to Dallas.
“That shot over Rudy,” Dončić said, smiling, when asked which part of the video hit him the most.
Now facing Gobert again — this time in a Lakers jersey — Dončić made it clear that he’s eager to attack one of the NBA’s premier defenders.
“Since I came to the league, I like to play pick-and-roll,” Dončić said. “I like to get a center on me.”
"He Thinks Nobody Can Guard Him"
Head coach JJ Redick knows Dončić’s confidence isn’t an act.
“He thinks that there’s not a person in the world that can guard him,” Redick said Thursday. “So I think he takes that seriously, that matchup in particular.”
While Gobert is a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, he was repeatedly targeted by Dončić in last year’s playoff matchup. The Timberwolves, now without Karl-Anthony Towns, who was traded to the Knicks in a blockbuster deal involving Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, will lean even more heavily on Gobert and Anthony Edwards.
“Obviously, they added two guys that can really play, and they have Ant [Edwards],” Dončić said. “They have a lot of guys that can play, a lot of guys that can guard. So they’re very, very interesting.”
Redick’s Message: Raise the Intensity
As the Lakers prepared for their postseason opener, Redick delivered a passionate speech to his players ahead of a team film session Tuesday night. The Lakers gathered to watch the play-in game between the Warriors and Grizzlies at Cosm Los Angeles, an immersive theater in Hollywood.
“JJ turned into a motivational speaker,” said guard Austin Reaves. “I asked him how many times he rehearsed it. He said zero. He was speaking from the heart.”
Gabe Vincent added, “It’s that time of year to take things to another level, and I think he just made it very clear the importance of that.”
That urgency reflects the expectations now surrounding the Lakers. Since acquiring Dončić in February, the Lakers have gone 19-12 and clinched the No. 3 seed with a 140-109 win over the Rockets in the regular-season finale.
“He Brings an Excitement to the Game”
Dončić enters the playoffs averaging 28.1 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in 28 games with the Lakers. He’s played just 21 of those alongside both James and Reaves — a limited window to build championship chemistry, but enough to show flashes of elite offensive potential.
“We have a great team,” Dončić said. “We have guys that are willing to go to war. Everybody is staying together. The chemistry is high, so I think we do, for sure, have a chance [to win the championship].”
Dončić’s teammate from both his Mavericks tenure, Dorian Finney-Smith, now a Lakers swingman, knows what to expect.
“I already know bro is going to come with the juice,” Finney-Smith said. “He loves the moment. Knowing him, probably got to calm him down, too, because he’s going to be barking. It’s going to be exciting.”
“He’s smiling on the court and off the court, talking a lot of trash on the bench or with whatever fans he’s picking out that’s yelling at him,” Finney-Smith added. “He brings an excitement to the game. He makes unbelievable passes. That last [regular-season] game, the Houston game, I cut, thinking he wasn’t going to throw the ball to me. He threw it my direction, and he was like, ‘What, you think I didn’t see you?’”
A Familiar Foe, A New Journey
Dončić's 30.9-point career playoff scoring average ranks second in NBA history behind only Michael Jordan (33.5). The Timberwolves — who went 17-4 to close the season and finished just one win behind L.A. — are hardly a typical No. 6 seed, and Dončić knows it. Still, with LeBron James and a refreshed supporting cast around him, the Lakers believe they’re built for a deep postseason run.
“The goal is to win a championship,” Dončić said. “That’s our only goal.”
Tipoff between the Lakers and Timberwolves is set for Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
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