During the recent Play-In Tournament, D’Angelo Russell of the Los Angeles Lakers seemed very confident in himself and his abilities.
But on Saturday night, he didn’t help his team enough and only scored 13 points against the Denver Nuggets.
On Monday’s “The Carton Show,” Tim Hardaway Sr. said he’s had enough of Russell.
“D’Angelo Russell pisses me off,” he said, before adding that the Lakers veteran talked a lot during the Pelicans game but then fell apart against Denver.
“You come in and you stank it up again,” Hardaway added.
“D’Angelo Russell pisses me off. You come in and you stank it up again.”
— @HardawaySr reacts to his bad Game 1 vs. Nuggets pic.twitter.com/xrjyUOkb7r
— The Carton Show (@TheCartonShow) April 22, 2024
Hardaway said that Russell will have to play incredibly well during Monday night’s Game 2.
If he isn’t able to right the wrongs from Saturday, the Lakers could walk away with a 2-0 deficit, which will be very hard to recover from.
The most painful thing about Saturday’s game is that LeBron James and Anthony Davis played incredibly well against the Nuggets.
If they had more help from Russell, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, or another supporting star, they could have claimed a Game 1 victory.
That would have put the Lakers in a very good and somewhat surprising position over the reigning champions.
Unfortunately, the rest of the roster didn’t produce like James and Davis and now all fans are demanding a lot more in Game 2.
Russell has surely heard the demands from fans and is probably hard at work studying what went wrong on Saturday.
But will that be enough to correct his game and lead to much higher production in Game 2?
The Lakers have now lost nine straight games against the Nuggets and they hope to break that trend on Monday night.
That will not be possible unless everyone, including and especially Russell, plays better than on Saturday.
NEXT:
Shannon Sharpe Reveals What Lakers Are Doing Wrong Against Nuggets