The Lakers are down 0-3 in the Western Conference Finals and some really mad Lakers fans will be blaming D’Angelo Russell.
In fairness, he has been one of the reasons LA hasn’t looked so sharp out on the court, but there have been many other contributing factors as well.
Against the Nuggets this series, Russell is -53 in 79 minutes on the court and +31 in 65 minutes off the court.
This matches Russell’s box score numbers of 7/2/4 on 30/14/75. Yikes.
“According to the metrics and the eye test, he’s been the most harmful player in the series, by far,” Lakers reporter Michael Corvo said.
When asked about Russell’s decline in performance, Ham had a very succinct answer.
“All good looks,” Ham said. “He just has to remain aggressive. All good looks.”
When Russell himself was asked about his poor shooting numbers, he explained his simple plan of attack to fix it.
“For me? Oh, I don’t know,” Russell said. “I really don’t. I don’t know. I’ll try to figure it out. … Just make ’em. Take ’em. Make ’em.”
The Lakers are facing an uphill battle (to say the least) in Game 4 v Denver, as no team in NBA history has ever come back from being down 0-3.
So let’s hope Russell starts making those shots.
Ham said the team will be motivated to perform and not let the Lakers fans down.
“It’s a very real thing,” Ham said. “It’s a very real thing. It’s a prideful group, again, highly competitive that cares and that wants to go and put on a good show for our fans as well.”
Game 4 of the Lakers-Nuggets will take place on Monday, May 23 at 5:30PM PDT at Crypto.com arena.