While Luka Dončić has made a career of highlights, gaudy statlines and memorable moments, one that’s going to live above the rest will be his shot over Rudy Gobert in the Western Conference Finals in 2024.
From that moment forward, Luka has taken a special joy in further torturing Rudy Gobert, which made the prospect of those two squaring off in the Lakers-Wolves series enticing.
And in Game 2 on Tuesday, Luka made a habit of targeting Gobert. While not every action directly involved Luka taking Gobert in an iso, there were many times the two were involved in something that led to a Lakers basket.
One adjustment I wanted to see form the Lakers is more three man game and even though this was just all Luka, the fact they got into formation has me wondering if we are going to see more of that. pic.twitter.com/qlnbzcJqLx
— Mo Dakhil (@MoDakhil_NBA) April 23, 2025
The highlight of the night, though, did involve Luka cooking Rudy. After getting him in a switch, Luka pulled Rudy away from the basket, hit him with a number of ball fakes, crossovers and jab steps before hitting a floater…and then let Rudy know about it.
After the game, Rudy was asked about how he felt he was holding up in isolation against the Lakers and Luka.
“I got to look at the numbers,” Gobert said. “I think some of the times they score, some of the time I think I did pretty good job. You guys know better than I do the numbers. But there’s always things I can do better or we can do better. Overall, as a defender, that’s what I enjoy. I enjoy guarding the best players in the world and I always embrace the challenge.”
Well, Rudy, Luka is surely enjoying it, too!
I’m not sure what it is about Rudy, but Luka loves terrorizing this man. He finished the game with 31 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists as the Lakers earned a 94-85 win. And while the win will be the thing Luka wants most, doing it while also embarrassing Rudy will likely make him all the happier.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
