One of the biggest storylines going into the Los Angeles Lakers’ first round series against the Denver Nuggets was how D’Angelo Russell would hold up and if head coach Darvin Ham would have to adjust his starting lineup next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis the way he did last season.
In the 2023 Western Conference Finals, Russell was effectively played out of the series, but was coming off of a much better regular season in 2024.
Russell struggled mightily in Game 1, which did not calm the questions about his playability in the series. He had 13 points on 6-for-20 from the field despite being a team-high plus-two in the game. But Ham stuck with Russell for Game 2, and the Lakers guard quickly turned it around. He had 23 points and six assists on 7-for-11 beyond the arc in Game 2, despite the losing effort.
James was quick to throw his support behind Russell, even after a poor Game 1 to add on to his struggles last postseason.
“We never lost confidence in him. DLo was DLo tonight, it was great to see,” James said after Game 2.
Ham showed no hesitancy in sticking with Russell as a starter for Game 2, and was proud to see the veteran guard approach the game the way that he did.
“He did exactly what I thought he’d do,” Ham said. “He had a tough shooting night in Game 1, he went back to the drawing board, put his work in and came out firing away tonight. It’s a tough one to come up on the short end of the stick because of that performance that he had from the 3-point line, but it’s playoff basketball, man, you separate yourself by doing it over and over again.”
Russell has absolutely earned some benefit of the doubt after the way he’s played this season. Generally, Russell is not seen as an elite postseason performer, but he is coming off of arguably his best regular season as a pro, and has earned the chance to bounce back from an ugly Game 1.
He did so and should be the likely starter at point guard for the rest of the postseason, regardless of how long that goes.
D’Angelo Russell calls out officials
D’Angelo Russell was also involved in a controversial moment of Game 2, when he was hit in the face by Michael Porter Jr., but the referees overturned the foul call on replay review anyways. Russell was particularly frustrated, calling out officials both on social media and in his postgame media availability.
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