The Lakers will hit the road for the first time in the NBA Playoffs as they take on the Wolves in Minnesota for Game 3 in an atmosphere Luka Dončić expects to be a loud one.
The Lakers may have had the benefit of home court advantage heading into the NBA Playoffs, but they quickly tossed that aside with a Game 1 loss to the Wolves.
Now, the team heads to Minnesota for Games 3 and 4 needing to win at least one game in Minneapolis, a tough ask in any playoff series. Luka Dončić is one of the few players on the roster with experience of playing games in Minnesota, having battled the Wolves in the Western Conference Finals.
After the Lakers’ Game 2 win, Luka spoke about his expectations of the crowd in Minnesota.
“It’s going to be high [energy],” Luka said. “I remember that they have amazing fans are they are very loud. At some point, they’re going to make a run where we got to stick together. It’s us against the whole arena. So, it’s going to be very tough. I experienced that and it wasn’t easy. We have to stay together no matter what.”
Luka’s experiences in Minnesota were generally pleasant ones. In the three games he played there during that series, the Mavs went undefeated and Luka averaged 33.6 points per game.
The Wolves, in fact, were pretty bad at home in the playoffs last season. After sweeping the Suns, they went 1-5 at home against the Nuggets and Mavericks combined, including losing in a pretty large blowout against Dallas in Game 6 to end the series.
So, there are clearly some demons for the Wolves.
In recent playoff runs, the Lakers have excelled on the road. The team won road Game 1s against both the Grizzlies and Warriors in 2023 and, last season, had strong showings on the road in Denver before incredibly frustrating losses.
The Lakers need to pick up a win in Minnesota to win the series. There are plenty of reasons to believe they can do it, but it won’t be an easy task.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.