Dončić, Lakers ready for 'rock fight' in Minnesota: ‘It’s us against the whole arena’

Luka hasn't forgotten his memorable interactions with fans in Minnesota during last season's playoffs.

Apr 22, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) posts up against Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels (3) during the first quarter of game two of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Luka Dončić and the Lakers know they're in for a war when the best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Timberwolves relocates to Minnesota for Games 3 and 4.

"Oh, it's going to be tight," Dončić said about heading to Minneapolis after the Lakers evened the series with a win in Game 2 Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

Dončić led the Mavericks three wins at Target Center as Dallas defeated the Timberwolves in five games to advance to the NBA Finals last season.

"I remember that they have amazing fans and they're very loud," he said. "At some point, [the Timberwolves are] going to make a run and we gotta stay 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 gotta stay together no matter what."

Dončić had a memorable run-in with a Timberwolves fan during Game 5 of last year's conference finals, responding to a fan who was heckling him about crying for fouls by yelling back, "Yeah! Who’s crying, motherf*****!”

“That gets me going,” Dončić said about last year's fan interaction. “Everybody knows that by now.”

The style of play between the Lakers and Wolves is bound to get fans riled up frequently. The phsyical, chippy action in Game 2 resulted in a low-scoring battle. When a reporter likened it to a "rock fight" Tuesday night, Lakers coach J.J. Redick agreed.

"We weren't ready for a rock fight to start in Game 1. I've seen enough of these and been in enough of these, that you can have these low-scoring games and sort of low offensive output games that are really physical and all of a sudden somebody starts making threes, there's a few turnovers that leads to a high transition half and somebody scores 120," Redick said. "That's just kind of how basketball works. Every game is a little different, but I think the mentality for both teams is to have a rock fight."

With a rock fight and Luka's penchant for begging for whistles on the way to Minnesota, Games 3 and 4 Friday and Sunday could be exasperating for everyone involved.