LOS ANGELES — After Lakers franchise point guard D’Angelo Russell made history by tying Nick Van Exel’s Lakers franchise record for 3s in a season with 183 in Monday’s 136-105 win over the Atlanta Hawks, coach Darwin Hamm gave him the nod of any shooter’s dreams.
Lakers franchise”He has a green room,” Hamm said of Russell. “Not a green light. A green room.”
Russell went 6-for-10 from beyond the 3-point line against the Hawks, L.A. Romped finished with 27 points and 10 assists, shooting 57.8% as a team and 41.7% from beyond the arc.
“I mean, I appreciate him believing that much,” Russell said of Hamm. Try to remember that I have achieved something. It’s something I’ve let work on and continue to work on, it just feels natural to me, humbly.”
Russell is 14th best in the league shooting a career-best 41.9% from 3 this season.
His skills from the 3 point line, you know, it’s really, really elite.
According to ESPN Stats & Data Research, Van Exel needed 80 games to set the Lakers franchise’ 3-pointer mark in 1994-95, which represents the longest single-season Lakers franchise record in the NBA.
Russell, who on Monday passed Kobe Bryant (180 treys in 2005-06), matched Van Exel’s milestone in his 64th game.
It’s really cool. I said I don’t want to underplay it, don’t underplay it, overplay it. It’s really cool to be a part of something like that. I think I did something like that in Brooklyn, like right. Just for your drama. Get the credit and what you work for and show up every night.”
In fact, Russell set the Nets franchise record for 3s in a season with 234 in 2018-19.
The win was more important than the record, as the Lakers franchise snapped a two-game skid. Anthony Davis returned from a corneal abrasion that caused him to score 22 points on 10-for-14 shooting, 15 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals against the visiting Golden State Warriors on Saturday. Five Lakers starters scored in double digits, with LeBron James (25 points on 10-for-14 shooting, 10 assists), Russell and Davis adding double-doubles.
Davis said he told Russell he could have made a better effort to pass Van Exel’s record on Monday, one within 3 seconds of his own. “He threw it out there,” Davis said. But Davis was confident that Russell “will definitely tear it up” in LA’s next game on Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“He’s able to go and fill up the stat sheet with his scoring, and that’s a big thing for him, a big thing for us as a team,” Russell said. D_Lo has a lot going on around her, and to be able to do that and we hug her and she sees, feels the love, it’s good for her.”
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