It’s been a rollercoaster for Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell when the games have mattered as he’s seemingly been see-sawing between good and bad games.
Russell struggled mightily in the Play-In Tournament against the Minnesota Timberwolves and was eventually benched in favor of Dennis Schroder. During the Memphis Grizzlies series, Russell had a great shooting night in the Game 1 victory before falling back down to earth in Game 2.
Game 3 was a better outing for the former All-Star as he scored 17 points, albeit on an inefficient 5-of-14 shooting. However, it looked like Russell was playing with much more confidence as he cited the need to just flush his poor shooting night in Game 2.
Perhaps Russell just needed the comfort of the Los Angeles crowd to play better as he admitted he and the team fed off the energy at Crypto.com Arena.
“Definitely fed off the energy in the building,” Russell said. “You could feel how electric it was. Just driving to the arena, the fans, everything was just there, you could feel it. We wanted to come out with a strong start. They beat us up on their floor last game, wanted to come out and respond.”
Russell also addressed his inconsistent play so far and said he’s going to continue with playing his game:
“It’s the playoffs. It’s good, bad, ups, downs, it’s gonna happen. Stay the course.”
The Grizzlies’ physical style of play has certainly played a part in Russell’s off nights, though he hasn’t seemed too rattled by it. Each game of a series is its own beast, and players have to be able to remain as calm as possible throughout.
Fortunately, Los Angeles gets one more game at home where they could really put a stranglehold on the series if they’re able to pull out a win in Game 4. Defending home court is one of the major keys to winning any series, so if Crypto.com Arena can give the Lakers one more boost it would go a long way in helping them advance to the next round of the playoffs.
Anthony Davis focused on being more aggressive in Game 3
Like Russell, Anthony Davis managed to bounce back in Game 3 as he led the purple and gold in scoring with 31 points. In his postgame press conference, Davis said he made it a point to remain aggressive throughout the night and said that he needed to keep that same mentality for Game 4.
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