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The Los Angeles Lakers are on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs after falling into a 3-0 hole against the Nuggets on Thursday night, and D’Angelo Russell has understandably caught some heat for pulling out his phone on the bench in the middle of the loss.
The Denver Nuggets headed into their first-round showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers as pretty heavy favorites to win the series, but it was still safe to assume LeBron James and Co. would be able to put up a fight. However, that has not been the case.
The Nuggets walked away with a decisive 114-103 victory in Game 1 before taking a 2-0 lead in the series by edging out a 101-99 win, and on Thursday, they essentially put the nail in the coffin with the 112-105 triumph that put them on the verge of advancing to the second round.
Now, there’s always a chance the Lakers could become the first team in NBA history to crawl out of a 3-0 series deficit, but when you consider 151 teams have previously tried and failed and only three of them were able to force a Game 7, they’re facing an uphill battle.
There’s plenty of blame to go around in Los Angeles, and D’Angelo Russell saw plenty come his way thanks to what transpired during Game 3. He was the only starter who failed to record a single point and went 0-7 from the field while missing every single one of the six shots he attempted from behind the arc.
Russell is reportedly gearing up to enter free agency when the season ends, and it sure seems like he’s already officially checked out based on a clip of him sitting on the bench and scrolling through his phone while the rest of his teammates were huddled up during a break in the action.
D’Lo refusing to take part in the huddle now. https://t.co/GjGz17ZNp0 pic.twitter.com/rRL39WSK5z
— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) April 26, 2024
That right there is the textbook definition of “a bad look.”