When he is in a groove on the court, there are few players tougher to stop than D’Angelo Russell.
The Los Angeles Lakers guard was having one of those stretches on Monday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the fourth quarter, Russell made two 3-pointers in back-to-back possessions. He clearly had a hot hand and had the ball in his hands once more.
Russell passed the ball to LeBron James on the perimeter but the NBA’s all-time leading scorer knew that his teammate was in the middle of a hot streak. James nearly immediately threw it back to Russell, who used a couple nasty dribbles before hitting yet another 3-pointer.
D'Lo gets shifty for the TOUGH triple pic.twitter.com/ryvaaEv2lJ
— NBA TV (@NBATV) March 5, 2024
It was a great encapsulation of team chemistry for the Lakers, who celebrated the impressive shot from Russell.
While that was a fun moment for the group, perhaps the best part of it was not actually captured on the TV broadcast. Fortunately, however, a fan at the game provided a second camera angle of this possession.
LeBron wanted DLO to get his heat check up pic.twitter.com/3dXDOW3fsv
— Lakers Empire (@LakersEmpire) March 5, 2024
In that video, you can see the facial expression that James made when he received the pass from Russell. He knew that it was Russell who needed to shoot it so he could have a third consecutive 3-pointer for the Lakers.
After the game, during his walk-off interview, Russell alluded to this moment when he said that his teammates find him when he is hot:
D'Angelo Russell: "My teammates find me when I'm hot. I think for me, it makes it easier when I can stretch the floor like that." pic.twitter.com/6zkXJWSpHN
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 5, 2024
Lakers guard Austin Reaves also knew that James would pass it back:
“As soon as he got the ball, me and AD stood up. We knew it was going up even when he passed it. We knew Bron was gonna give it back to him.”
Russell ought to feel confident after performing so well against one of the best teams in the NBA.
