D’Angelo Russell has not played well thus far in the Western Conference Finals, and one particular stat shows how much the Los Angeles Lakers have struggled with him on the floor.
Russell scored 10 points in 33 minutes off the bench in the Lakers’ Game 2 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night. He managed 8 points in 26 minutes in Game 1. Russell is just 7-for-19 from the field (1-of-8 from three-point range) combined through the two games.
What’s even worse is that the Lakers are -41 with Russell on the floor in the series.
D’Angelo Russell in the WCF:
9.0 PPG
43.4% TS
36.8% FG
12.5% 3PT
-41 pic.twitter.com/5OjAv6GD1G— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) May 19, 2023
The Nuggets may even be going at Russell intentionally. Bruce Brown, who scored 16 points in 24 minutes off the bench in Game 1, had some blunt remarks about Russell.
Russell recognized that he played poorly in Game 1 and tried to do some extra work afterword (video here). Unfortunately for the Lakers, it did not seem to help much. They need Russell to play better if they want to get back on track in the series.
