D’Angelo Russell led the way for the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night. The second-year guard scored a team-high 23 points in the win over the Atlanta Hawks, but he was far from the only player to produce offensively.
Russell was one of six players on the team to score in double digits against the Hawks. The Lakers put up 123 points against Dwight Howard’s squad and their fighting spirit late in a game finally paid off on the road.
After the impressive win over the Hawks, Russell raved about his teammate’s offensive production, via Joey Ramirez of Lakers.com:
“We got some killers on our team, man,” Russell said.
Without a dominant scorer or go-to guy on the team now that Kobe Bryant retired, the Lakers appear to be getting things done by committee this season. Everyone is getting involved on a nightly basis for the Lakers, and it may prove to be a formula that works.
Russell has shown potential to be Bryant’s successor as the undisputed leader or the player the team goes to when the game is on the line, but as of right now it is a team effort. Players like Lou Williams, Jordan Clarkson, Nick Young, along with Russell have all stepped up in crunch time.
With the first road trip now in the books, Luke Walton and company will head back to Los Angeles. The Lakers will go head-to-head against their toughest challenge of the season thus far on Friday night with the Golden State Warriors coming to the Staples Center.
Friday’s game will mark the first time Walton will go up against his former team in the regular season, and it won’t be the last in the month of November. The Lakers will host the Warriors twice this month and play one game at Oracle Arena on Nov. 23.
