While we were waiting for Karl-Anthony Towns, presented by Chris Finch as the ultimate weapon to better end matches, it was D’Angelo Russell who came out of his box! On the occasion of the reception of the Grizzlies of Ja Morant this night, the point guard delivered a recital, during the fourth quarter in particular by passing 23 of his 37 points during the last 12 minutes in order to tip the scales in favor his.
Between his repeated drives, his 3-point missiles and his services for Malik Beasley, D’Angelo Russell was simply involved in all the points scored by Minnesota in the last act, until the two game-winning shots signed Jaden McDaniels at the last second.
“He’s a very good finisher. When he gets close to the circle, he can finish any way he can. He’s really good at attacking pick-and-roll generated openings because he sees a lot of them. He’s great at mid-range shooting. He is very comfortable. But he has the ability to go even further, and tonight he was able to do that because they kept giving him that opening.”, analyzed Chris Finch. “D-Lo ended up finding a rhythm that they couldn’t stop. It was huge to be able to take advantage of it”.
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Possession after possession, D’Angelo Russell was therefore “content” to make the right choices with disconcerting ease, and this ease in finishing near the circle which recalled Ja Morant to the best of his form, which was far from be the case tonight. But for the interested party, the strength of the team remains the collective.
“I try to think about the game as much as possible, and when the game comes to me in a fluid way, it makes things easier”, he confided. “They can’t stop us all. I think that’s the hardest thing to deal with against us, stopping all three of us (with Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns). If something doesn’t work, we move on to the next plan.
This night, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards each brought in a different register, more defensive for the back like his last defense on Ja Morant. And D’Angelo Russell did the rest.
“He had a great game, in all four quarters. He never calmed down. Everyone knew he was on the pitch, and he’s the D-Lo we need every night. I’m super proud of him.”for his part slipped Anthony Edwards at the conclusion of this very beautiful evening of his teammate.
