Hopefully he’s back for the second half, but he took a nasty spill.
Los Angeles Lakers starting point guard D’Angelo Russell departed tonight’s bout against the Golden State Warriors after rolling his ankle on Donte DiVincenzo’s foot while inbounding the ball to starting LA center Anthony Davis.
Our fingers are crossed that D-Lo makes a speedy recovery, though we are skeptical he will return for the game’s second half tonight.
In 8:48, Russell scored two points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field, grabbed four rebounds, and dished out three dimes.
After leading by as much as 13 points, Los Angeles saw its advantage shrink towards the end of the game’s second quarter. LA is still leading a banged-up Warriors club at the break, 59-56, and seems likely to draft recently-demoted reserve point guard Dennis Schröder to start in Russell’s stead for the short term.
Missing Russell’s three-point shooting, passing and scoring touch for an extended period of time could prove disastrous for a 27-32 franchise that needs to make up ground as it continues to make a push for the postseason. The Lakers currently sit just two games behind the 10th-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, and are banking on winnable games against beaten-up opponents very much like tonight to help them cross the finish line and at least qualify for the play-in tournament this year.
The upshot is that Schröder, though not the three-point shooter or playmaker Russell is, does seem to perform better when given more extended run. He’s looked pretty uneven since assuming his bench gig, and in spot starts could adequately fill in for the injured Russell.
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