The Lakers lost again! As strong as James, he could not lead the team to compete with the Nuggets, and the 0-3 aggregate score seemed to indicate that there was not much suspense in the Western Conference Finals. In this game, James and Davis are still brave, and Reeves also stepped up, but Russell, who was expected by the team, once again dragged the team back. Played 20 minutes, shot 1-of-8, contributed 3 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 turnovers. In such a crucial Western Conference Finals, with such a poor performance, Russell, as an important member of the Lakers, is indeed unqualified.
Frequent iron strikes, opponents are not guarded
Iron is the rhythm of Russell's entire game. Although he hit his first three-point shot, it was the only time he scored in the game. In the first quarter, Russell shot 1 of 4, which directly led to his abandonment by the team in the second quarter and did not play. However, perhaps still lucky, Lakers coach Hamm put Russell in the starting lineup again in the opening of the third quarter, only to disappear again after assisting Davis to score.
In the game, Russell had no sense of existence, and the empty three-point shot could not be shot without suspense; After dribbling to block, a pass is delivered to the opponent. At one point, the Nuggets ignored Russell and no one defended him: he couldn't shoot anyway, so he might as well focus on other people! But for Russell, it may be a greater humiliation.
In fact, the Lakers played tenaciously in this game, and the final loss was only 11 points, and the two teams had a similar difference in the first three quarters, and the gap was opened in the last quarter. It can be said that if it were not for Russell's slump, the Lakers had every chance to win this game, and Russell, who had no contribution on the offensive end, did not improve in defense, with a plus-minus value as low as -12, which did not play much role. After the game, the entry "Russell pulled again" appeared on Weibo's hot search high, and the word "again" also vividly illustrated his poor performance in the series.
The series was sluggish, and the attack and defense did not improve
In this series, Russell seems to have a psychological shadow, and he can't find a feeling no matter how he plays. In the first game, his 8 points and 3 assists can only be said to be decent, but the shooting percentage of 4 of 11 is not too high, and he is 0 of 3 from beyond the three-point line; In the second game, Russell had 10 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, which was already his best performance in three games, shooting 3-of-8 from the field, but he still got 32.8 minutes of playing time.
What is even more speechless is that Russell not only performed sluggishly on the offensive end, but also contributed nothing defensively. In the first game, he played a terrifying plus-minus of -25, and as long as he appeared, the team would be passive; The -16 in the second game is still not outstanding. In these two games, the Lakers lost by 6 and 5 points, respectively, which is very different from the plus-minus when Russell was on the floor. And today's Russell-12 plus-minus is already the closest to the team's loss point difference.
There are also media that summarized the net efficiency value of the Lakers when different lineups were on the floor in the first 2 games, and as a result, people were surprised to find that as long as Russell was present, the Lakers' data would become miserable, and as long as Russell was replaced by other players by controlling variables, the data would be much better. At least, from the perspective of this series, Russell has done more damage to the Lakers than he contributed, and in the process of eliminating the Grizzlies and Warriors, he also had the feat of shooting 2 of 11 and 1 of 10, and despite the highlight moments, his play was not consistent.
However, Hamm seems to trust Russell and gives him quite plenty of playing time in basically every game, even if he is poor. No wonder some netizens complained: "Russell must have mastered Ham's handle." After all, Russell's performance can no longer be described as ordinary.
With such a big contract year, can I still stay in the team?
In this series, Russell's crotch is actually expected, after all, in the first 2 rounds, he also hit the iron many times, but 3 consecutive games played such an explosive performance, it is indeed somewhat unexpected. However, in the regular season, Russell's role for the Lakers is actually more critical, he can average 17.4 points and 6.1 assists per game, and his three-point shooting rate is basically reliable, which is an important scoring point for the team.
However, in the tough battle of the playoffs, if he can't contribute enough, Russell should be abandoned. The offense can't score, the defense can basically be easily passed by the opponent, such a player, stay on the field, is it a spectator? In Gong Xiaobin's famous saying, that is, "watching Russell play is really a pain". In the next game, although it has been cornered, the Lakers are not completely out, if there is any hope to change, perhaps, giving up Russell is the first step.
This year, it is also Russell's contract year, and just this morning, Woj revealed on his show that Russell has preliminarily discussed a contract extension with the Lakers. Perhaps, judging from the performance of the regular season, Russell could have got a big contract with the Lakers, but he has continuously hurt the team in the playoffs, and I am afraid it will be difficult to gain the trust of management. Russell is likely to use his iron and defense to lose a contract that should be worth a lot, and where will he go in the future? If he can keep the Lakers, perhaps, he really has some handle on the team.
(Supine Push-ups/Powerful Miracles)