The Los Angeles Lakers will miss the NBA playoffs for a third straight season this year with the storied franchise struggling to get back on track.
Although the Lakers will not be postseason bound, the young squad shocked the world this weekend in a dominating performance against the Golden State Warriors.
The defending NBA champions had no answer for D’Angelo Russell and company as the Lakers cruised to a 17-point victory. After the loss to the Lakers, which was only the sixth of the season for the Warriors, superstar Stephen Curry was asked about Russell’s potential and said the following via Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group:
Stephen Curry on D'Angelo Russell pic.twitter.com/PhswZTcfCH
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) March 7, 2016
The Warriors came into Sunday’s game against the Lakers with hopes of winning a 56th game of the season. Russell and Jordan Clarkson had other plans with the backcourt duo combining for 46 points.
Klay Thompson and Curry had a rough afternoon with the two All-Stars finishing with 33 points and hitting only one three-pointer between them. The Warriors as a team went 4-for-30 (13.3 percent) which is way off their season average of 41.2 percent.
Golden State is chasing history this season with the team attempting to win a second straight NBA title while also potentially finishing with the best record in league history.
As for the Lakers, the team hopes to continue seeing their young players develop in the final stretch of the NBA regular season. Russell has come on strong as of late with the rookie point guard recently showing his potential to become the team’s best scoring option with a career-high 39 points.
The Lakers have 18 games left in the season with their next game against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night at the Staples Center.