For the first time in the young career of Brooklyn Nets point guard D'Angelo Russell, the 22-year old rising star recorded a triple-double on Friday night against the Toronto Raptors.
Although the Nets fell 116-112 on the road to the Eastern Conference's top seed in the Raptors, Russell had himself a great all-around game with 18 points on 8-of-21 shooting from the field, a game-high 13 assists, and 11 rebounds in 31 minutes of action.
“He had command of that game,” Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson said of Russell, per Ian Harrison of The Associated Press. “I think he took one bad shot the whole night, which he heard about.”
According to a tweet from ESPN Stats & Info on Friday, Russell's first ever triple-double ended a long streak for the Nets in relation to other NBA franchises. The last triple-double by a Nets player before Russell was back in 2010 (while still known as the New Jersey Nets) by rookie guard Terrence Williams on April 9 of that year.
D'Angelo Russell records his first career triple-double.
It's the first triple-double by a Nets player in 633 games which was the 2nd-longest active drought by any franchise.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 24, 2018
Unfortunately for Russell's impressive game, he was simply outshined by his point guard counterpart Kyle Lowry of the Raptors. The All-Star stole the show for Toronto en route to a come-from-behind victory when he went off for a game-high 25 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds in 37 minutes on the court.
Lowry also gave the Raptors their first lead of the second half when he made four straight free-throw attempts, which put Toronto ahead 100-99 with just 4:50 left in regulation.
This loss stings for the Nets, given the fact that they blew a 14-point lead on the road and also squandered a 23-point cushion the other night against the Charlotte Hornets.
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