After evening the series, the Los Angeles Lakers now head to Minnesota for the next two games in what is sure to be a raucous environment. Luka Doncic is very familiar with the atmosphere having faced the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals last year and he is ready for it.
Of course, it was in Minnesota when Doncic had his famous game-winning 3-pointer over Rudy Gobert in Game 2 of that series. Now, Doncic is focused on ensuring the Lakers can get a win in one of these next two games and he feels it is imperative that the team sticks together throughout.
“It’s gonna be hype,” Doncic said of what he expects in Minnesota. “I remember that, they have amazing fans and they’re gonna be very loud from the first moment. At some point they’re gonna make a run, but we gotta stay together. It’s us against the whole arena, so it’s gonna be very tough. I experienced that and it wasn’t easy. We gotta stay together no matter what.”
With how good this Timberwolves team is and how crazy and loud it will be inside that building, the Lakers are going to have to dig deep to get a win. There will undoubtedly be times when things get tough, but Doncic feels it is up to him and LeBron James as the leaders to ensure this team stays together and doesn’t panic.
“Obviously not panic, but me and Bron, as leaders of the team, we gotta keep the team together,” Luka added. “Like I said, going into Minnesota is gonna be a war. The fans are gonna be cheering like crazy, so no matter what, we can’t panic. We gotta stay together and that’s on me and Bron to keep the team together.”
The Lakers have certainly had their struggles on both sides of the court in these first two games and that can potentially get even worse on the road. But with James and Doncic setting the tone, this team is capable of stepping up in Minnesota and Luka sounds more than ready to do just that.
Luka Doncic believes Lakers can still do a better job attacking the paint
One area the Lakers improved upon in Game 2 was getting into the paint. The team went from just 32 paint points in Game 1 to 46 on Tuesday and Luka Doncic still feels they can be even better in that aspect.
“I think when we touch the paint, a lot of great things happen,” Luka said after the win. “Gets them into the blender. I think we gotta do that more. Obviously we talk about it, gotta touch the paint no matter what. That’s what we’re trying to do more and I think we can still do a lot more than that.”
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