D’Angelo Russell ties Lakers franchise record for 3s in a season،
LOS ANGELES — After Lakers point guard D'Angelo Russell made history in Monday's 136-105 win over the Atlanta Hawks by tying Nick Van Exel's franchise record for 3 seconds in a season with 183, coach Darvin Ham gave him every shooter's dream support.
“He has a green room,” Ham said of Russell. “Not a green light. A green room.”
Russell went 6 of 10 from beyond the 3-point line against the Hawks, finishing with 27 points and 10 assists as Los Angeles went on a rampage, shooting 57.8% as a team and 41.7% as a team. beyond the arc.
“I mean, I just appreciate him trusting me that much,” Russell said of Ham. “I'm really trying to feel like I've earned something like this and it wasn't given. So knowing that this is something that I've put in the work for, that I have put in the work and continue to do so, it seems normal to me, humbly.”
Russell is shooting a career-best 41.9% from 3 this season, which is 14th best in the league.
“His prowess at the 3-point line, you know, it’s really, really elite,” Ham added. “And we need it every moment.”
Van Exel needed 80 games to set the Lakers' three-point mark in 1994-95, which is the NBA's longest-running franchise record, according to research from ESPN Stats & Information.
Russell, who passed Kobe Bryant (180 triples in 2005-06) on Monday, tied Van Exel's record in his 64th game.
“It’s really cool, honestly, just to know that, to get the credit for it,” Russell said. “It's just really cool. I said I don't want to underestimate it, underestimate it, overdo it. I just feel like it's really cool to be a part of something like that. I think I did something like that in Brooklyn, too. Just to get credit for your game and what you're working on and showcase it every night.
Indeed, Russell set the Nets franchise record for 3s in a season with 234 in 2018-19.
The win was bigger than the record, as the Lakers ended a two-game skid. Anthony Davis returned from a corneal abrasion that caused him to miss most of Saturday's loss to the visiting Golden State Warriors to score 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting, 15 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. All five Lakers starters scored in double figures, with LeBron James (25 points on 10-of-14 shooting, 10 assists), joining Russell and Davis with a double-double.
Davis said he told Russell he could have made a better attempt with one of his 3s to pass Van Exel's record Monday. “He just threw it up there,” Davis said. But Davis was confident Russell would “break it for sure” in Los Angeles' next game, at home Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“He's able to get going and fill up the stat sheet with his scores, and that's a big thing for him, a big thing for us as a team,” Davis Russell said. “Obviously there's a lot going on around D-Lo, and just to be able to do that and us hug him and him see that, feel the love, it's good for him.”
