D’Angelo Russell previously said he believes he’d fit well with the Los Angeles Lakers and it sure looked like it in his debut when they beat the Golden State Warriors.
Russell drew the start in his first game back with the Lakers and he didn’t disappoint as he recorded 15 points, six assists and five rebounds. Despite joining the team just two days ago, Russell looked comfortable on the floor next to his new teammates and it’s easy to envision how he can help them the rest of the way.
One player who’ll greatly benefit from playing next to Russell is Anthony Davis who revealed that he was talking with the guard throughout the entirety of the game via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Vando do what he do. Offensive rebound, defensive rebound, finish around the rim, playmake, when he catches ii in the pocket. And DLo did what he did. Start off slow trying to make reads, but we continued to talk the entire game. Me and DLo literally talked the entire game about pick-and-roll, what he see what I see, what he like what I like, where he like the ball. Just throughout the course of the game just trying to build that chemistry on the fly. With no practice and only having film and things just did a great job of communicating. Beas as well. It was good. It was good we were able to get the win while we’re trying to figure it out.”
Davis also noted that he and Russell are already trying to figure out how the offense can work once LeBron James returns to the lineup:
“Obviously I know how he play, how he likes to play. But it’s different when you’re guarding it and now you’re in the action. Like I said, it’s just that constant communication. We had some times where we hit on some plays, sometimes we missed but it comes with the chemistry building. And I think for the most part as long as we continue to talk we’ll be fine. I mean, we even talked about when Bron come back. At halftime, we drawing up plays on the board me, DLo and Bron. Like, ‘Bron, we want you here’ just trying to constantly speed up this process being behind the eight ball. So I think we did a good job of that tonight.”
Although Russell doesn’t have much time to get acclimated, he’s got superstar teammates in Davis and James to lean on and smooth the learning curve. That alone should help ease any concerns about time and chemistry in the short term.
Anthony Davis explains body language during LeBron James’s record-breaking night
Davis appeared much cheerier after the win against the Warriors, a far cry from his behavior a few nights ago when James broke the all-time scoring record. Davis explained his body language, saying that he was simply upset that the Lakers were losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder.