EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — When Lakers star Luka Doncic recently returned to Dallas and was honored by his former team with a tribute video, he admitted there was one clip that struck him the most: his game-winning 3 over Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in last year’s Western Conference finals.
Doncic will open his first playoff series with the Lakers on Saturday against the Wolves in Game 1 (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC) and said he will welcome the 7-1 Gobert trying to guard him again.
“Since I came to the league, I like to play pick-and-roll,” Doncic said Thursday in his first comments about L.A.’s first-round series. “I like to get a center on me.”
Lakers coach JJ Redick said that Gobert’s status as a four-time Defensive Player of the Year only makes Doncic relish it more when the Minnesota big man is switched onto him.
“He thinks that there’s not a person in the world that can guard him,” Redick said of Doncic. “So I think he takes that seriously, that matchup in particular.”
Redick and the Lakers have been intentional about taking all of the Wolves seriously as they use this week to prepare for the playoffs.
On Tuesday, the team gathered to watch the Golden State Warriors-Memphis Grizzlies play-in tournament game at Cosm Los Angeles, an immersive theater. Before that game, Lakers players all got an earful from their coach.
“JJ turned into a motivational speaker,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said. “I asked him how many times he rehearsed it, he said zero. He was speaking from the heart.”
Asked about Redick’s message, Lakers reserve Gabe Vincent said everyone must be ready to increase their intensity.
“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,” Vincent said.
Redick was clearly speaking the same language as Doncic, whose 30.9-point career scoring average in the postseason is second only to Michael Jordan’s 33.5.
“I like big games,” Doncic said. “Playoffs is a fun time. Everybody plays 100%. It’s just fun to be out there.”
While Doncic has changed teams since last spring, he acknowledged the Wolves’ changes in trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo, while still being led by their own scoring machine in Anthony Edwards.
“Obviously they added two guys that can really play and they have Ant,” Doncic said. “They have a lot of guys that can play, a lot of guys that can guard. So they’re very, very interesting.”
They’re also hardly the type of underdog one would expect from a typical No. 3 vs. No. 6 seed matchup in the first round.
Minnesota went 17-4 over its last 21 games to finish with 49 wins, just one fewer than L.A. And now the Lakers will attempt to beat them four times in a seven-game series.
But Doncic believes the Lakers have the right team to advance past the Wolves and beyond.
“I think we have a great team,” Doncic said. “We have guys that are willing to go to war. Everybody’s staying together. The chemistry is high. I think we do, for sure, have a chance [to win the championship].”
Source: espn.com