Brooklyn Nets Lose To Los Angeles Lakers Behind D’Angelo Russell’s Career Night
The Brooklyn Nets were done in by the Los Angeles Lakers late Tuesday into early Wednesday, as rookie D’Angelo Russell had the best scoring game of his career.
The Brooklyn Nets continued their circus road trip Tuesday night with a visit to the Los Angeles Lakers. It was the second consecutive night that they were playing in the Staples Center, as they lost to the Los Angeles Clippers the previous night, 105-95. It was much of the same Tuesday, as the Nets lost to the Lakers 107-101.
With the loss, the Nets drop under .500 on their road trip, as they are now 2-3. It also means that the Nets were swept by the Lakers this season, as Los Angeles won the first meeting in November at the Barclays Center, which was the Lakers’ first victory of the season.
It has not been a fun road trip, as the Nets have run into some strong perimeter players in Damian Lillard and Chris Paul. Tonight it was much of the same, as they saw first hand how great rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell can be. Russell put on a show from the opening tip to the final buzzer, as the Nets had no answer for him.
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Russell stuffed the stat sheet for easily the best game of his young career. He poured in a career-high 39 points, knocking down a career-high eight three pointers in the process on 12 attempts. In the game, Russell shot 14-of-21. He also added six rebounds, three assists and one steal as he did a little bit of everything for the Lakers.
The last three-pointer he made helped seal the game for the Lakers in the final seconds. Up three points with 53 seconds left, Russell hit the dagger three-pointer to put the Lakers up six points. He responded by letting everyone know that he has ice in his veins.
Ok this is going in to #NBA2K17. Ice in his veins! @Dloading https://t.co/lg3fh4IvWO
— Jerson Sapida 2K (@JersDaCurse) March 2, 2016
The Nets also struggled to slow down Russell’s running mate in the backcourt, Jordan Clarkson. Clarkson did most of his work early in the game, but finished with a strong stat line of 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Joining them in the double-digit scoring club tonight was fellow starters Roy Hibbert and Julius Randle, who went for 14 apiece. Randle recorded a double-double in the process, pulling down 13 rebounds.
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Randle battled most of the night with Nets’ power forward Thaddeus Young. Young was a part of many trade rumors heading into the trade deadline, but remained part of the Nets roster. He has been up and down since, but was able to record his first double-double since the All-Star break, scoring 19 points with 15 rebounds.
The offense wasn’t a problem for the Nets tonight, as the whole starting lineup scored in double-figures. Brook Lopez led the way with 23, adding seven rebounds and four assists. Bojan Bogdanovic, who has stepped into the starting lineup for Joe Johnson, added 18, while Wayne Ellington had 11 and Donald Sloan had 10 of his own.
The second unit had a rough night though, as every player finished with a negative plus/minus ratio. Rookie Chris McCullough did not get off the bench, as he seems to be alternating playing days with fellow rookie Willie Reed. Sean Kilpatrick made his Nets debut, playing 21 minutes and scoring eight points. He should stick in the rotation, as he was dominating the D-League and deserves an extended shot at regular NBA minutes.
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The Nets will now have a couple of days off, as they will not play again until Friday night. They will be paying a visit to the Denver Nuggets that night, which will be the sixth of their nine game road trip.