Shaq: D’Angelo Russell Had the Same Points as Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith & Himself Tonight

Losing their 11 straight game against The Joker tonight, the Los Angeles Lakers proved once again that the Denver Nuggets are their kryptonite. Finally, back in their home court, LakerNation expected their squad to bring a sense of urgency and desperation in Game 3. Instead, LeBron James and Co. crumbled under pressure, losing 105-112, and extending the deficit to 0-3. But the biggest disappointment was D’Angelo Russell, who after an impressive comeback in Game 2, scored zero points tonight while playing 24 minutes. And that resulted in a wild analogy from Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal.

Witnessing D’Lo’s choke job in LA, Shaq made a bold statement about his performance on Inside The NBA, “You can’t go 24 minutes and not have one point. D’Angelo Russell needs to step up.” And to add insult to injury, Big Diesel further said to his co-hosts Kenny Smith and Charley Barkley, “He (Russell) got the same points as me, you, and Chuck.” With that, Kenny tried to defend Russell’s performance, claiming he was just a complementary player. But Barkley backed Shaq’s criticism and agreed saying, “You can’t go 0 for seven in a must-win game.”

Only three nights ago, D’Angelo silenced his critics by getting out of his recent shooting slump, scoring 23 points in Game 2. And he did it pretty efficiently as well, making seven of his eleven attempts from beyond the arc. And while everyone believed Russell’s struggles were over, it worsened tonight. By missing all six of his three-point shot attempts and not even being productive as a playmaker with only two assists, D’Lo’s performance hit a new low tonight.

Is D’Angelo Russell the only one to blame for the Lakers’ Game 3 loss?

Unfortunately, not scoring any points will bring a lot of blame toward D’Angelo. But there were many other factors that prevented the Lakers from protecting the home court tonight. For the third consecutive time in this series, LeBron James and Co. gave up a 10+ point advantage to Denver, as they led by as many as 12 points at one point tonight. Similarly, the Lakers blew a 20-point lead in Game 2, eventually losing on a buzzer-beating shot from Jamal Murray. Maybe, the Lakers need to work on maintaining their lead and not making basic mistakes against the defending Champions, because they will punish them every chance they get.

Moreover, Anthony Davis yet again was absent in the fourth quarter. Just like Game 2, where AD went scoreless in the final 12 minutes, after scoring 32 points in three quarters, he scored only 3 points in the 4 quarter tonight. And that too after scoring 30 points in the first 36 minutes. And it looks like AD cannot find his clutch gene when the Lakers need it the most. Or Darvin Ham is not using AD as much in crunch time as he should.

Lack of strategy and adjustment, awful performance from the role players, and bad coaching, a lot of factors went into the Lakers’ loss tonight. And the Lakers need to work on all of them if they wish to not get swept on their home court for the second straight time on Saturday.