Following his best game of the season Thursday night—a 27-point performance on 11 of 16 shooting—D’Angelo Russell basically announced to the world that he had officially arrived as a budding NBA star.
Heroics from the rookie guard and Kobe Bryant weren’t enough for the Los Angeles Lakers to overcome DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings, but he felt encouraged about his game and the Lakers’ future despite the 118-115 road loss.
The second overall pick in last summer’s Draft had to leave the court due to a right ankle injury, and claimed the Kings were “lucky” he got hurt at crunch time.
D'Angelo Russell: "I was hot. If I wouldn't have went down, I probably would have hit some bogus shot and we would have won."
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) January 8, 2016
Per ESPN:
In short bursts, Russell has shown he can be special, but on Thursday, his talents were finally on full display. He scored a career-high 27 points off the bench in a 118-115 loss to the Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena, including scoring 19 in the second half to help lead a rally from a 27-point deficit. […] Was this Russell’s best game of the season? Of course, but his answer to that very question carried the kind of confidence necessary to own the spotlight for the Lakers, which is exactly where Russell hopes to be when Kobe Bryant departs.
“Y’all ain’t seen nothing yet,” Russell said of his performance. “That’s all I’m going to say. … The world hasn’t seen anything yet.” […] “I know what I can do,” he said. “Y’all just got to see.”
Russell left the game in the final minutes after rolling his right ankle, spoiling a marvelous performance he believed should have included a comeback win. […] “They got lucky,” he said, referencing the Kings.
