The Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 139–122 on Friday night by scoring an amazing 87 points in the first half. Russell scored 30 points, 14 of which came in two minutes in the second quarter, giving them the lead.

Russell hit four 3-pointers and two free throws in a row to score 14 points for the Lakers and help them get ahead of the Pelicans. At the start of his run, the Lakers were behind 42–38. By the end, they were ahead 52–47. With more than nine minutes left in the second quarter, they had 52 points, which was one of the first signs of a strong scoring night.

Russell talked about what goes through his mind and how he feels when he sets a huge number of personal records. He’s been known for a long time as the kind of player who can get hot at any time and change the game. 
It was just the flow, Russell said. “I like to play the game the right way and let it come to me.” It helps me get into a flow. It’s also easy for me to hit the third and fourth-best players because my partners get a lot of attention. That’s fine with me. When it comes to how I feel and other things like that, I don’t feel anything. Something isn’t really on my mind. I’ve talked about flow state a few times. Just get there and figure out how to win.

In a game where the Lakers had 32 assists and only seven mistakes, the guard also said that his friends were very helpful. 
“I think we had 30 assists and seven turnovers, or something like that.” Anyone good at sports knows that when you share the ball, your best players will move towards it naturally. For AD and Bron, gravity is made to move with them, which lets guys hit from behind. You saw Austin, Rui, and me. The ball goes where it needs to go when we share it.

“It might be too soon to say this, but I like the way Nikola Jokic plays.” One of the most selfless players we’ve ever seen, and you could see that everyone on their team is dangerous and plays off of his gravitas. That seems to be how the league is going. A lot of the best players are giving up things to win and becoming less active. Because it’s hard to win in this game.

“I remember how easy it was to win games when I first joined the league.” I think it’s harder to win now. It seems like leaders and teams are getting better at coming up with plans, and defense is getting harder. We play guys so many times a year that you start to feel like you know what they’re trying to do, their plans, and other things like that. You have to pass it and not care about yourself; it makes the game more open.

For Russell, it feels like all the pieces are finally coming together. They’ve won six of their last nine games and four of their last five. 

The man said, “You can say that.” “I think we’re still trying to figure it out and get guys healthy.” Vando changed everything about us, and Cam Reddish went through stuff while he changed everything about us, TP. Now Rui is being that guy. Because we have so many guys, I think they’ll be able to step up when their name is called. Guys did a good job. That means I’m sure the chemistry is going. Guys are feeling better now that the trade deadline is over. I believe things will get better from now on.

The Lakers showed they believed in their current players by not making any trades at the trade deadline. On the second night of a back-to-back after a tough loss to the defending champs, things could have gone badly very quickly. 

What Russell and the Lakers did instead was come back to score a big goal and get a much-needed win to keep their season going.