D’Angelo Russell: Suns Big Man’s Historic Night Makes Lakers’ Job Easy vs West No.1

The Los Angeles Lakers faced off against the West’s top-seeded team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and came away unscathed. They won 116-104 against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Co. D’Angelo Russell, who was tonight’s best player with a game-high 26 points, spilled their secrets post-game.

Michael Corvo of the Clutch Points tweeted Russell’s comment and the Suns’ big man plays an important role in it. “I watched Nurkic get 31 on them last night, so I knew we could dominate.” The Phoenix Suns had to admit defeat to the OKC Thunder yesterday, but Jusuf Nurkić had a historic night. He broke the Suns’ franchise record with 31 rebounds, the most in 14 years!

Tyson Chandler held the previous Suns’ record of most rebounds in January 2016 against the Atlanta Hawks. Nurkic’s own career-high was 23 when he was playing for Portland. He set the record against the Kings in January 2019. Phoenix was without their star shooter, Devin Booker, for the night. Yet, they managed to put up a close fight throughout.

D’Angelo Russell had the arena and his teammates roaring

There is no doubt that D’Lo was the star tonight. His spotlight moment came in his shot-making and by now, all of you would know exactly what it is. An early fourth-quarter push saw Russell hit three straight three-pointers, all of them harder than the last one.

Read More: “I Remember Crying”: Oblivious LeBron James Left D’Angelo Russel Emotional as a Kid

The three that got him mobbed by his teammates happened with 9:13 left in the final phase. LeBron James passed the ball to D’Angelo Russell, who was under the watchful eyes of Jalen Williams. With Williams not having any plans of letting Russ score, the 28-year-old let the ball fly from downtown, stumbling back and falling in the process. But it was worth it.

The target reached the destination and the entire arena couldn’t believe what they just saw. But of course, tonight’s win was more than just one player carrying the brunt of the responsibility. The whole Purple & Gold came together with practiced ease as they worked to put Oklahoma away.

Anthony Davis was equally effective in the paint on both ends. He finished the night with a double-double, getting 24 points and 12 rebounds, along with four assists and three blocks. James and Austin Reaves worked perfectly as passers and scorers. Bron also had a double-double as he tallied 19 points and 11 rebounds while dishing out a game-high eight assists. Reaves, for his part, had 16 points, seven assists, and six rebounds.