(Basketball news) The new look Los Angeles Lakers comfortably beat the Golden State Warriors 109-103. For the Lakers, newest recruit and former second overall pick in 2015 draft out of Ohio State D’Angelo Russell scored 15 points, six assists and five rebounds in his return while Dennis Schroder scored 26 points as both teams missed the star power of injured greats LeBron James and Stephen Curry. Anthony Davis had a double-double of 13 points and 16 rebounds and blocked one of his three shots on a late jumper by Klay Thompson, which was a crucial block to win the game. For the Warriors, Jordan Poole had 29 points and six assists while Klay Thompson had 15 points. With this result the Lakers improved their record to 26-31.

”It was a little weird but I’m trying to normalize it,” said Russell, who also played 33 games for the Warriors during the 2019-20 season. ”The sooner the better. I’ve been in this situation. … After that first stint you kind of get comfortable again. When you get traded so many times the irony comes back with all these teams and just kind of normalize it.’

”Me and D’Lo literally talked the entire game, about pick-and-roll, what he sees, what I see, what he like, what I like … just trying to build that chemistry on the fly, with no practice,” Davis said.

”They’re frustrated we couldn’t close out these last two games,” coach Steve Kerr said. ”We just haven’t been able to string together enough wins to create a little momentum and separation in the standings.”

The Boston Celtics beat the in-form Memphis Grizzlies 119-109. For the Celtics, Derrick White scored 23 points as Sam Hauser added 20 points which tied his career-high with six 3-pointers, Al Horford had 16 points and Payton Pritchard added 12 points as they won their fourth straight while Jayson Tatum didn’t have his sharpest game, finishing with 16 points but making 3 of 16 shots and missing 7 of 8 on 3-point attempts. For the Grizzlies, Morant led the scoring with 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds, while Desmond Bane scored 18 and Jaren Jackson Jr. had 15 points and seven rebounds. With this result the Celtics maintained their best record in league 41-16 as they stayed top of the Eastern Conference standings. 

”That’s the beauty of this team,” said White, who also had 10 assists. ”We’re just so deep. We’ve got a lot of guys that can do a little bit of everything.”

”We have some of our top dogs out now and it’s just an opportunity for guys to showcase what they can do,” Hauser said. ”Try to fill that void of the guys that were out. They bring a lot to the table. We try to do our best to do whatever we can to help the team win.”

”How do you correct that?” coach Taylor Jenkins said before the game. ”It’s got to be a mentality, for sure, obviously you trust all the work you’re putting in. . Guys have to be even more confident together on the road. We know what our standard is and that’s what it’s about and we don’t live up to that standard on the road.”

Also read: Kevin Durant moves to the Phoenix Suns while D’Angelo Russell get trades to the Lakers