Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell After Scoring 44 Against Bucks: ‘Public Humiliation Has Done Nothing But Mold Me Into The Killer That You All See’

After the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Milwaukee Bucks last night (3/8), D’Angelo Russell spoke to NBA reporters about his 44-point night. 

Russell scored 21 of his 44 points in the fourth quarter and hit a go-ahead jumper with 5.9 seconds to play to help the Lakers beat the Bucks by a final score of 123-122. 

“On the floor, I’ve always felt like I was capable of doing things,” Russell said, via ESPN. “Getting hot makes it a little more exciting. Off the floor, obviously you all know what I’ve been through. Public humiliation has done nothing but mold me into the killer that you all see today.

“I never lack confidence. I never fear confrontation. I want all the smoke. … I just feel confident in what I bring to the basketball game, so whatever room I walk in, I’m confident.”

Russell finished with 44 points, six rebounds and nine assists against the Bucks while shooting 17-of-25 from the field, 9-of-12 from beyond the arc and 1-of-1 from the free-throw line. He had a plus-minus of +1. 

“DLo just stepped up and won us the game,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said. “And obviously with Spence (Spencer Dinwiddie) with the defense on that last possession. Just seeing DLo take over the game, I constantly kept telling him in timeouts, ‘Take us home.'”

Dinwiddie blocked Damian Lillard‘s game-winning attempt right before the buzzer to seal the win for the Lakers, who improved to 35-30 on the season. LAL is now in ninth place in the Western Conference standings. 

Russell, 28, is averaging 18.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 6.2 assists this season while shooting 47.2% from the field, 42.4% from 3 and 80.5% from the foul line. It looks like the Lakers made the right move by not trading the Ohio State product at this year’s NBA trade deadline.