Russell Westbrook literally saved the day for the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night as they escaped with a hard-fought 128-123 victory over the Raptors in Toronto. Russ came up big time for the Lakers in the clutch as he helped his team to just their third victory in their last 10 games.

Things were looking grim for the Lakers with just 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter. LA was on the brink of losing their fourth consecutive game with the Raptors up three points and with possession of the basketball. And then, Russell Westbrook happened (h/t ClutchPoints on Twitter):

Russ swiped the ball away from Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes and with the game on the line, Westbrook drained a contested triple to send the ball to overtime.

It is worth noting, however, that Westbrook also came up with an awful play on the previous possession for the Lakers:

It's a good thing Russ was able to make up for that atrocious attempt with his game-tying triple just a few moments later. Otherwise, Westbrook would have been crucified yet again.

Westbrook was clutch in OT as well, dishing out a key assist to Avery Bradley for a wide-open triple in the dying moments of the extra period. In the following play, Russ swiped the ball again from Barnes thereby ending Toronto's hopes of sending the game to a second overtime period.

Russ isn't going to win over the Lakers faithful with just one game. However, this is definitely the right step towards redemption.