The Lakers hosted the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday and secured a big 134-110 win. The star of the show was undeniably PG D’Angelo Russell, who dropped the highest score of the night at 34 points. He also contributed one rebound, two blocks and eight assists over 34 minutes. With an average of 27.2 points in the last five games alone, the former All-Star’s numbers demonstrate a noticeable boost in his performance.
With this incredible improvement, D’Lo claims that his secret sauce is his ability to match teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis‘ aggression. After playing with the two for a while, he found that leveling up his aggression was the best way to go.
D’Lo’s trick in complementing Bron and AD
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D’Angelo spoke to the media about the significant upturn in his play and attributed this to the chemistry he shares with teammates Bron James and Davis. “Trying really hard to get LeBron and AD to ball, you know, you find yourself dribbling off your foot or looking crazy trying to force it when it’s like you gotta be aggressive around these guys. You compliment these guys by being aggressive, not passing to them. That’s easy to guard,” D’Angelo said.
D’Angelo Russell explains that part of his recent uptick in play – averaging 27.2 pts in his last five games – came from the recognition that the best way to complement AD and LeBron is to be aggressive, rather than defer pic.twitter.com/ozOvQcaa6Q
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 22, 2024
Sunday’s win for the Lakers was a collective effort for the Lakers and along the way, they turned in performances worthy of highlight reels. One such moment was during the second quarter when D’Lo threw a bounce, pass ally to LeBron, who sunk the ball and expanded their lead to 58-42. In his last five games, Russell has averaged an impressive 6.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists, while making 4.4 3-pointers on 55% of attempts and is 100% from the free-throw line. His incredible performances have been propelled by a healthy season.
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D’Angelo has helped improve the Lakers’ ratings
With halfway into the season, the Lakers have played 44 games so far. D’Lo has missed only four of these, which is an improvement from his previous seasons. He is averaging 16.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 6.1 assists. On 13th January, the 27-year-old scored a season-high 39 points during the Lakers’ 132-125 loss against the Utah Jazz.
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D’Lo was struggling to make an impact in the early stages of the season, but it seems like he has finally found his groove. With an impressive offensive rating of 131.2, D’Angelo has helped improve the Lakers’ net rating from -0.8 to +4.6 this season, which includes an increase in their offensive rating from 113.4 to 121.8. At this point, it won’t be an overstatement to say that the Lakers need him at the forefront.
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