In early February, the Los Angeles Lakers were several games under .500, and they seemed to have only two chances of making the playoffs: slim and none.
But on the ninth of the month, Russell Westbrook was sent out in a three-team trade that brought back D’Angelo Russell, forward Jarred Vanderbilt and sharpshooter Malik Beasley, and it turned their season around.
After Russell, Vanderbilt and Beasley made their Laker debuts, the team went 18-8 the rest of the way in the regular season, and it went from a porous defensive team to one of the best in the NBA in that department.
Russell has given L.A. a steady, dependable and smooth starting point guard who, like Westbrook, can make things happen in transition, but is also very effective in a halfcourt setting, not to mention a very potent outside shooter. He averaged 17.4 points and 6.1 assists a game while shooting 48.4 percent overall and 41.4 percent from 3-point range since coming to the Purple and Gold.
Russell taking care of these three areas of emphasis will greatly increase the Lakers’ chances of defeating the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
Help contain Ja Morant
Containing Morant and preventing him from going off will be a team effort, but it may start with Russell, since he is the Lakers’ starting point guard.
He will have to prevent Morant from beating him off the dribble and limit his forays into the paint. Russell may not want to simply give the Grizzlies’ star the outside shot, but he will want to make Morant live off such shots while at least somewhat contesting them.
Although Morant is a beast when he gets into the paint and to the rim, he shot just 30.7 percent from 3-point range during the regular season.
Part of the game plan against him also has to include Russell being aggressive enough and playing well offensively to make him expend energy on the defensive end.
Set up teammates for easy shots
Russell is a very capable ball-handler and facilitator, and during his time with the Lakers this season, he has had a robust 2.64 assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Grizzlies were third in defensive rating during the regular season, so he will need to make things easier on his teammates by getting them open, easy looks, especially in transition, which is where the Lakers thrive.
At the same time, doing a good job in that category will take some pressure off the 38-year-old LeBron James, who looked fatigued at times late in the regular season and during L.A.’s play-in tournament game versus the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.
In that contest, Russell shot just 1-of-9, but he dished off a team-high eight assists while committing only one turnover.
Shoot well from the outside
Russell is a very good 3-point shooter these days, but he has historically been streaky, especially come playoff time.
Although the Lakers have improved their 3-point shooting since the trade deadline, that area of their game is still a bit shaky, and one has to expect that Memphis will want them to live off such shots.
After all, head coach Taylor Jenkins is a Mike Budenholzer disciple, which means he will live with opponents taking lots of treys in order to seal off the paint. During the regular season, the Grizzlies allowed the fourth-most 3-point attempts, so L.A. will have to shoot north of 35 percent from that distance in order to make them pay for employing that strategy, and a lot of the onus to do so will be on Russell.
If he gets hot quite often from downtown, and especially if he finds his 3-point stroke in transition, the Grizzlies could face plenty of trouble versus the Lakers.
