Jordan Clarkson (sprained right ankle) is questionable. But as his role has fluctuated by the game in the past week, Russell stated his case on why it should stay the same.
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SAN ANTONIO For every time he nailed a mid-range jumper or posted up on Friday, Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge reminded the Lakers of their failed offseason.
The Los Angeles Lakers lost 109-87 to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night to fall to an bad mark of 3-20 on the season. “It’s just about opportunity”. On Jan. 23, 2014, Clarkson made his National Basketball Association start as a rookie here and posted 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting, four assists and one turnover in 29 minutes.
“If he wanted to, he’d be pretty good at it”, Randle said.
“I have no idea”, Scott said.
Would the Lakers still be 3-19 if Aldridge had signed them? But when Los Angeles got off to a far worse start than Scott expected, he completely threw those plans out the window.
The possibilities are many because he’s a second-round draft pick who received a two-year contract when the Lakers plucked him out of obscurity with the 46th pick in 2014.
Still, Russell added another line on his resume. A win would give the Hawks a little momentum as they have struggled to put together a solid win streak lately, going 5-5 in the past 10 games.
Still, Russell had some limitations. The Spurs used a 30-16 fourth quarter to blow the game open, making their first five shots of the period. Randle had 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting an 12 rebounds in 33 minutes on Wednesday against Minnesota.
Clarkson said it was “definitely disappointing” not to play in his hometown after starring at Wagner High School (2007-10).
As for Russell, he believed his success stemmed elsewhere.
“The second meeting was just myself and (general manager) Mitch (Kupchak)…It was all basketball”, Scott said. “After that, I decided never again – if they come they come; if they don’t, I don’t care”. “I know they watch me and support me through TV and stuff”.
Those developments overshadowed Bryant, who sparked an equal mixture of both boos and chants. Despite the loss, San Antonio is still 18-5 on the season and 7-5 on the road.
While Bryant may deserve to be an NBA All-Star for everything he’s done in his career, on and off the court, it’s a bit of a stretch to reward him with a spot this year when he’s admittedly played terribly all season.
“Those years with he and Shaq were great”.
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Despite his success in San Antonio, Bryant is extremely popular in the city and a large contingent of fans came to see what could be his penultimate appearance at the AT&T Center. “There aren’t too many people who understand how you bring it night after night after night for all those years at that level”. At this point there is nearly zero doubt that the Lakers will retain him as he is one of their very few bright spots but the question now becomes how big of a pay raise is he in for.
