Defense is largely the unicorn of most of the events at NBA All-Star Weekend, which can be said for the All-Star Game on Sunday night and starts with the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night. However, that doesn’t make what Los Angeles Lakers rookie guard D’Angelo Russell did on Friday night any less impressive.
Though Larry Drew took notes from Byron Scott and brought Russell off of the bench for the contest, that didn’t stop the 19-year-old from going out and essentially dominating his contemporaries. Playing just 16 minutes, Russell still put up 22 points and seven assists while shooting 9-15 from the field and 4-7 from three.