It’s no secret the Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell struggled mightily in last season’s Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets. He averaged a meager 6.3 points a game while shooting 32.3% from the field and 13.3% from 3-point range as the Lakers got swept by the eventual NBA champions.
Russell played so poorly that head coach Darvin Ham benched him for Game 4. Not only was his offense awful, but he also got lit up defensively by Denver’s guards, in particular Jamal Murray.
Bruce Brown, a key contributor off the bench for that Denver team, threw shade at Russell following Game 1 of the series.
Bruce Brown said the Nuggets’ goal was to attack D’Angelo Russell defensively on every possession.
“He’s not the best defender, so we wanted to make it tough on him”
— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) May 17, 2023
This season, Brown is a member of the Indiana Pacers, and Russell’s Lakers defeated Brown’s Pacers on Saturday to win the league’s first in-season tournament.
While Russell didn’t play particularly well, as he shot 6-of-15, he did have seven assists against two turnovers. Meanwhile, Brown, who is now a starter, was just 2-of-9 and scored four points while Russell managed 13 points.
Afterward, Russell fired back at the former Nuggets reserve (h/t Lakers Daily).
Via Los Angeles Times:
“He was talking [expletive] all year,” Russell said. “Yeah. Talking [expletive] all year. For me, it was just showing it with my play. I don’t have nothing to say to him. I’m a fan of him to be honest. This was just all on the court. Got something to say? Show me on the court. [Nikola] Jokic ain’t there next to you today. It’s different.”
On the season (Saturday’s game doesn’t count toward regular season standings or stats), Russell is averaging 16.6 points and 6.3 assists per game while shooting 48.3% overall and 40.5% from downtown. While Austin Reaves may have surpassed him as the team’s third-most valuable player, he is still a big key to its championship hopes this season.
