The Los Angeles Lakers’ starting lineup has one of the world’s best defenders in big man Anthony Davis and he proves why nearly every night he steps on the floor. Overall, the Lakers want to be known as a defensive team, but there is one starter teams tend to target on that end in point guard D’Angelo Russell.
The Houston Rockets attempted to do the same thing, and of course with Dillon Brooks on the court he spoke loudly about the plan and got into a little back-and-forth jawing with Russell. But that backfired as Russell would end up with five steals in the Lakers’ 10-point win and Davis believes the spat with Brooks is what got Russell going and the guard took on that challenge defensively.
“Obviously he got into, a little back and forth with Dillon Brooks, and that kind of got him going,” Davis said after the win. “We even talked about before the game that he wanted to guard Brooks and he did a great job tonight.
“Deflections, steals, making the right plays. He took the challenge knowing that a lot of teams in recent games have tried to call him out to get a switch and he kind of took it personal and guarded tonight.”
As Russell has spoken about in the past, he is never going to be some extremely quick, athletic guard like a De’Aaron Fox or Ja Morant. But he does have great size which allows him to guard bigger players and he is extremely intelligent and great at reading things on the court.
This allows Russell to read passing lanes very well or be in the right rotation spots to deter drives or close out on players. But the most important thing is that the effort has been there and that means everything for a player that many feel doesn’t try on that end of the floor.
While he is not someone that will be trusted to guard the opposition’s best scorer, he is still capable of making an impact on defense. As Davis noted, he took some things personal against Houston and if he can continue to do that, the Lakers will be better for it.
D’Angelo Russell made history in Lakers win vs. Pistons
Even as his effort on defense improves, it is the offensive side where Russell is at his best and that was certainly the case in the Lakers’ recent win over the Detroit Pistons where he made NBA history with his performance.
Russell became the first player in history to finish with at least 35 points, five assists, three blocks and five 3-pointers made all while shooting at least 75% from the field. Additionally, Russell became the first Lakers guard since Kobe Bryant to score 35 points on 75% shooting from the field.
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