Wu Mo Xiong regained his might, defeating the Lakers at home, not only equalizing the series score, but also buying valuable time for Morant's comeback.
In the defeated Lakers, there is one player whose performance is particularly shocking, that is, DeAngelo Russell, who received a high salary of $31.38 million this year, but only contributed 5 points on 2-of-11 shooting in a single game.
In addition to being quite incompetent on the field, Russell's post-game interview left Los Angeles reporters speechless, so let's take a look at what Russell said in this interview.
This is the G2 game between the Lakers and the Grizzlies, the Lakers have returned to the visiting locker room, the athletes have even changed into civilian clothes, but between the words, Russell is obviously still immersed in the mood of the game, after briefly commenting on the day's game, he suddenly rushed to answer a question directly.
The reporter asked: "You are the point guard of this team, other players will do some cutting work..."
Before the words fell, Russell responded to the first half of the sentence, "You can't say I'm the point guard of this team, I'm just an ordinary member of the team." ”
Russell, we all know that you are in a hurry, but don't worry, why don't you let the reporter finish talking and then rush to deny your status as a point guard? No one has ever forced you to take responsibility for the top two stars in the Lakers, which is to discuss a division of labor on the court and classify yourself as an ordinary player, which is too deliberate.
It's true that Russell can't be called a star on the playoff-level stage, not because he doesn't want to, but because he can't. Because of the slender calves and lack of explosive body, such a block-type high guard may be doomed to deflated in the playoffs.
In his 8-year NBA career so far, Russell has only played a total of 13 playoff games, 5 games during his time with the Nets, 6 games in the first round with the Timberwolves last season, plus the current 2 games against the Grizzlies, he has never shot 45% from the field in any game, and Russell's report card for three playoff trips is 19.4 points and 3.6 assists per game in 2019, shooting 35.9%, and 12.0 points and 6.7 assists in 2022, shooting 33.3%, The first two games of 2023 averaged 12.0 points per game and shot 32.1% from the field.
Not only has efficiency never been outstanding, it has even deteriorated, with 44.5% of career playoff true shooting percentage down 10 percentage points from regular season.
So after the G2 game with the Grizzlies, Russell also became the first player since DeRozan in 2016 to shoot less than 50% in the first 13 playoff games of his career - but you know, although DeRozan has been ridiculed as a member of the "trash brothers", his playoff career has averaged 20+ points per game every year, and his performance is by no means Russell's ability to touch porcelain.
Recall that a year ago, the Timberwolves' first-round playoff opponent was also the Grizzlies, and Russell was also crotch-pulling at the time, scoring less than 12 points in five of the six games, and when the final game of the series was on the verge of being eliminated, Coach Chris Fincher would rather send the extremely mediocre backup guard McLaurin to finish the game than give Russell another chance to let an All-Star watch the team out on the bench.
A year later, Russell actually has two chances to prove himself in a short period of time, one against the old Timberwolves, and the other is now against the Grizzlies, and if he can play well, he may be able to prove that he was not responsible for last year.
But unfortunately, the progress of the game so far has backfired on Russell's wishes: the Lakers have already faced the Timberwolves in the playoffs, and Russell scored 2 points on 1-of-9 shooting, but Mike Conley, a veteran who replaced his guard job among the wolves, shot 6 of 8 from three-pointers and scored 23 points in one fell swoop; In the two games against the Grizzlies, Russell adjusted to G1's good form in good times, scoring 19 points and 7 assists, and setting a career playoff single-game record with a true shooting percentage of 53%, but returned to his old form in the second game.
So Russell, who was still happy after the first game, suddenly repeatedly emphasized after his crotch pulling performance: "I'm not a point guard for the Lakers." ”
Such an expression may even be a worse part than Russell's own performance.
Regarding Russell's sentence, the easiest association will of course point to James: the old Jen needs to have the ball in hand more often in his career, so the defender who partners with him does not need to hold the ball too much, and can be a tool person who focuses on defense, such as Beverley early in the season; It can also be a receiving projection, such as Mario Chalmers during the Heat and so on.
But is there another possibility, is that in James' 20-year career, the team often does not need to invest too much in the No. 1 position, so there are more role players in this position, but the type of partner James can partner is not limited to the sapper No. 1 position, not to mention the most comprehensive ability of Carey Irving, the 2020 Lakers won the championship fashionable and Rondo is on the team, and often competes with James. Although the cooperation between Westbrook and the Lakers eventually fell apart, Russell, as a player with shooting ability, returned to the Lakers with the expected evaluation of "you what Russell, me what Russell".
As a result, in this era of young guards who can easily score 40 points in the playoffs, Russell has not even been able to break out, and the playoffs performance is not as good as the Russell who left... As American netizens also frantically left messages in the comment area of Russell's interview video, "No matter what position you play, it is not enough to be a reason to only shoot 2 of 11."
We don't even need to refer to those distant objects, the Lakers also have two base-salary players who tell Russell with their performances that the Lakers have point guards and can play well with James.
The first is the current Purple and Gold Army's popular fried chicken, he was in amazing form at the end of the season, so he was put into the start, and maybe also took Russell's ball to a certain extent, but at least Rivers' performance in the playoffs proved that he was worthy, and the Grizzlies' G1 fourth quarter, it was Rivers and Hachimura who jointly dominated the offensive end, the two of them shot 9 of 10 in a single quarter, and even did not need Zhan Mei's help to end the game, and even if the performance had ups and downs, from every game of the play-offs so far, Rivers' play is also above Russell.
This is followed by backup defender Dennis Schroeder. On the defensive end, Beverley has handed over the responsibility of tearing the Lakers' backcourt to Schroder after leaving, but Blackie also had a stunning play-off performance on the offensive end, scoring 21 points as a substitute and almost shooting the bottom corner three-point shot for the Lakers, and Russell was frozen on the bench because he was 0 of 4 from three.
And after that day, Rivers even took the initiative to relieve Russell, "Don't say he didn't play well in the play-offs, he had 8 assists that day, which proves what a selfless player he is and willing to take responsibility for this team." ”
In this offseason, Russell, who earns 31.37 million a year, Schroder, who earns 1.83 million, and Rivers, who earns 1.56 million, will all become free agents, so the competition between them is not only the playing time of the point guard position, but also the signing value in the free agent market and the possibility of staying in the Lakers.
Based on the performance of the three people in the playoffs and playoffs, I believe that both fans and Lakers management have made preliminary judgments on their contract extensions.
From the original No. 0 to the current No. 1, Russell's return to the Lakers is a beautiful story. Competitive sports speak for performance after all, and time is running out for Russell to prove himself in the playoffs.