After missing six games due to injury, D’Angelo Russell scored 28 points and dished out nine assists, and Dennis Schröder added 23 points and seven assists as the soaring Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Toronto Raptors 122-112 on Friday night.
Russell was the focal point of the Lakers’ trade deadline activities, but the point guard only played in four games to start his second tenure in Los Angeles before spraining his right ankle. He re-entered the starting lineup with a bounce in his step, shooting five 3-pointers and making and celebrating a string of challenging plays that regularly elicited roars from the Lakers’ home audience.
“I still can’t believe we got D’Angelo Russell for Russell Westbrook lmao.” said a Lakers who cannot believe they managed to land Russell for Russell Westbrook.
During the break, the Lakers were able to regain some 먹튀검증 momentum thanks to Russell’s three-point play and Rui Hachimura’s subsequent long-range shot. L.A. went into the second with a slim 35-31 disadvantage after having fallen behind by 15 points earlier. That was the beginning of a good run for them to close out the first.
With two successful 3-pointers to knot the game at 41, Jarred Vanderbilt ensured the rally carried over into the second. Following a steal by Vanderbilt and a flagrant foul on Scottie Barnes, L.A. then seized the lead. Dennis Schroder did a fantastic job directing the second unit in his first appearance off the bench with Russell back. He was setting up shots for himself and others, and when Schroder hit Russell for a corner 3-pointer to give the German point guard 13 points in the opening frame, Russell returned the favor.
The Lakers went on another run as Russell scored points from everywhere to cap the second quarter. They were up 70-62 at the break after finishing the period on a 15-7 run.
The Lakers made a strong quarter-ending push to at least keep themselves in striking distance, but they still entered the fourth quarter down 90-85.
Since defeating the Raptors at home in 2014, the Lakers enjoyed an unbeaten streak, but that trend ended as L.A. held on for a 122-112 triumph.
“Sometimes you can play bad basketball and win every game,” Anunoby said. “You just try to take the positives from the losses, carry them over and win the next game.”
Fans of the Lakers will adore D’Angelo Russell’s confidence in this situation. In order to further advance in the West rankings and secure a Top 6 spot in the conference to automatically qualify for the playoffs, they need to adopt that kind of mentality.
From this point forward, the Lakers’ path will only become more difficult, especially considering how many talented teams are also vying for postseason 토토사이트 positions. Yet, the fact that Russell is as confident as ever and that this confidence is leading to victories is unquestionably a good thing.