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'I never fear confrontation': Why D'Angelo Russell shined in Lakers' win over Bucks

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'I never fear confrontation': Why D'Angelo Russell shined in Lakers' win over Bucks

D’Angelo Russell walked back onto the court where, an hour earlier, he’d just wrapped up his best basketball game as a Laker.

He grinned as he looked at the mostly empty Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers had just beaten the Milwaukee Bucks 123-122 without LeBron James. Russell made the go-ahead basket to give him 44 points. He’d scored 21 of the Lakers’ 27 points in the fourth quarter, tied for the third most by a Lakers player in the final quarter.

It was his moment.

In his mind, it always is.

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He darted his eyes around the empty stands late Friday night and said that with no James, a full building and a national TV audience — he was ready.

“It’s like all these people are here for me,” he said. “That’s my mind-set.”

Russell’s supreme confidence hasn’t always been viewed as an asset. The circumstances of his season in Los Angeles should’ve punctured that perception months ago, but it never did.

Discussed in virtually every trade scenario of impact, in and out of the starting lineup and losing rhythm, Russell saved his season — and probably that of the Lakers.

“When I talk to my people, they know what I’m capable of. I just talk to my circle. I brag to them,” Russell told The Times on the court late Friday. “All the s— people tweet about me, we talk about it. And it’s just motivation. It just fuels me.”

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Friday, Russell was gasoline.

As Anthony Davis’ left arm dangled after a collision with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks took a late lead, Russell sank a big three to keep the game within reach. And when he had a chance to make the game’s biggest shot, he did so confidently.

Russell attacked Damian Lillard and Brook Lopez in a pick-and-roll, and as he moved quickly in, and then out, he floated a 13-footer through the rim with his left hand for the game’s final points.

“That’s DLo, man,” coach Darvin Ham said.

Since returning to the starting lineup on Jan. 13, Russell has been sensational, averaging 22.8 points and 6.4 assists while making 45.8% of his shots from three on more than eight attempts per game.

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The Lakers have won 16 of those 25 games.

Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell, left, slips a pass around Bucks center Brook Lopez during the first half Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

The heater itself isn’t crazy when you consider Russell’s talent — his unorthodox style masking a widely respected set of skills like a silky shot and elite court vision and passing.

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It is, though, kind of crazy when you consider Russel’s trade value — or lack thereof — was one of the big stories around the Lakers through the trade deadline.

“He and I had a conversation. I won’t go into detail, but he and I had conversations about that very thing,” Ham said after the game Friday. “And you know, it’s a, I don’t call it unfortunate, but it’s just a reality of our business. His name’s being thrown around because he has value and he’s worth something; other teams see that.”

Yet people with knowledge of trade talks not authorized to speak publicly paint a different picture of Russell’s value at the deadline. His $18.7-million player option for next season was viewed negatively leaguewide, as teams asked the same questions evaluators have asked about Russell for years.

Yeah, he’s talented, but does he affect winning?

The nonexistent trade market left little doubt the answer teams had.

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“With my craft and my talent on the floor, I’ve always felt like I was capable of doing things. Getting hot makes it a little more exciting throughout a game,” Russell said in his postgame news conference. “Off the floor, obviously, you know what I’ve been through. Public humiliation has done nothing but molded me into the killer that y’all see today. And, um, I never lack confidence. I never fear confrontation. I want all the smoke.”

Russell credited a three-game absence around New Year’s with opening his eyes to ways he could better be himself.

“Just recognizing the pockets I could be more aggressive in and be efficient in,” Russell said. “And I saw it and attacked it as soon as I came back.”

He also vowed to stop being deferential, to trust that he would do the right thing when the moment demanded.

Lakers head coach Darvin Ham, center, talks with guards D’Angelo Russell, left, and Max Christie during the first half Friday night.

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(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

“I don’t want to say he stopped caring, but in some sense, he stopped caring about something,” Austin Reaves told The Times. “I don’t know exactly what that something was.”

It has not been perfect and it wasn’t Friday.

One of Russell’s three misses from three-point range on Friday was a rushed shot from the top of the key in the third quarter, an airball. Davis immediately told him he thought it was a bad shot. Russell’s high points this week were also surrounded by tough nights in losses against Denver and Sacramento.

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But as Russell has become more comfortable asserting himself, the Lakers have become more comfortable relying on him to do it.

“DLo was being DLo,” Davis said. “Took over the game for us.”

Fittingly, Russell wasn’t the only player rewriting his own value on Friday. Spencer Dinwiddie, a player who saw his role change in Brooklyn this season before being traded and waived, made his biggest play in his first start for his hometown Lakers.

After Russell’s go-ahead floater, Dinwiddie blocked Lillard’s potential game-winning shot thanks to a wonderful defensive play.

“It’s everything. I mean, I’m not gonna lie to you, having been a high-usage offensive guy my entire career, I mean, even when I was a kid, stuff like that, I kind of dreamed of those moments in terms of hitting the shot, not necessarily getting the block,” Dinwiddie said. “But it feels pretty much just as sweet. So it’s fun to step into a new role with my childhood team and be productive in the sense of helping us get wins. So that isn’t lost on me, and it’s something that I’m definitely gonna cherish the rest of my life.”

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Lakers teammates Jaxson Hayes, right, Spencer Dinwiddie, center, and D’Angelo Russell celebrate their win over the Bucks after Dinwidde blocked the potential winning shot on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Over the last two months, Russell has had a handful of these kinds of moments, his return to the Lakers, the franchise that drafted him, trending up after plenty of moments when it seemed destined to end.

“I just feel confident in what I bring to the basketball game,” Russell said. “If it’s film, watching it, helping young players, I just know what I bring to the table. So whatever room I walk in, I’m confident.”

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Trade rumors couldn’t dent it. Criticism of his game couldn’t alter it. It’s a core trait.

“There’s like a handful of people on this earth that have the confidence that he has on the court,” Reaves told The Times. “…I wish I could have it. I really do.”

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Ex-NFL star implores Russell Wilson to hang it up: ‘Do your TV thing’

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Ex-NFL star implores Russell Wilson to hang it up: ‘Do your TV thing’

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Russell Wilson has had his share of ups and downs in his NFL career.

He helped the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2013 and was named to the Pro Bowl four times. But the last few years of his career arguably did some damage to his legacy as he’s spent the last three seasons with three different teams.

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New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 9, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)

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Wilson is still on the free-agent market as he looks to latch on to a new team for 2026. However, former NFL star Aqib Talib implored Wilson to hang up the cleats.

“Do your TV thing, Russ. It’s over with, man. Once you’ve got to decide, do I even want to play?” Talib said on “The Arena: Gridiron.” “I think you don’t really want to play. I hate when guys get to the later part of their career and then they start doing the bounce-around thing and they’re not going to win. There was no chip in New York. That’s just going to be another stop on your resume.”

Wilson reportedly garnered some interest from NFL teams.

New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson stands on the field before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA on Oct. 26, 2025. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)

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He told the New York Post that the New York Jets were one of them.

Wilson also was reportedly a candidate to take Matt Ryan’s spot on CBS’ “The NFL Today” after Ryan left to take a front office job with the Atlanta Falcons.

Wilson has 46,966 passing yards and 353 passing touchdowns in 205 career games, but the 2025 season with the New York Giants was one to forget.

Wilson started three games and made some bizarre decisions in a loss against the Chiefs. Jaxson Dart was named the starting quarterback. As he came in to take a few snaps while Dart was being checked for a concussion, Wilson was booed.

New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)

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Should he end up signing with another team, Wilson will be entering his age-38 season.

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Artists, community come together to welcome World Cup to Inglewood with murals and more

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Artists, community come together to welcome World Cup to Inglewood with murals and more

A lot has changed since Jacori Perry attended Morningside High School.

Perry is now a renowned artist who goes by the names Mr. Ace and AiseBorn.

The school is now known as Inglewood High School United.

And the lecture hall on that campus now features a large, ornate mural of a soccer ball being grasped by the hands of two people — freshly painted by the 2004 Morningside graduate as the city of Inglewood prepares to host eight World Cup games at SoFi Stadium starting next month.

Local artist Mr. Ace works on his mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11. The artists, whose real name is Jacori Perry, attended the school when it was known as Morningside High more than two decades ago.

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(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

“If you told me that I would be back here painting one of the walls on this campus when I was in high school, I don’t think that I necessarily would have foreseen it,” Mr. Ace said as he was putting the finishing touches on his mural last week. “So I’m a little in amazement about just the way life works in that sense.”

He was one of several Los Angeles-based artists to participate in a Road to World Cup Community Day last month at Inglewood High United. Many of the artists — including Juan Pablo Reyes (“JP murals”), Michelle Ruby Guerrero (“Mr. B Baby”) and Angel Acordagoitia — sketched designs on portable panels (12-feet by 8-feet) and picnic tables for community members to paint.

The picnic tables will remain at the high school in front of Mr. Ace’s mural. The mobile murals will be placed throughout LAX to welcome visitors arriving for the World Cup.

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Kathryn Schloessman, CEO of the Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host Committee, said in a news release that the event was “just one example of how the energy of the World Cup can be felt in neighborhoods across our region.”

“Students, artists, and volunteers came together to create a work of art that will live on well beyond the end of the tournament,” Schloessman said. “It’s a reflection of the creativity, diversity, and community pride that makes our region so special as we prepare to host the world for FIFA World Cup 2026.”

Community members were encouraged to take part in the painting process, no matter their skill level.

“We made it easy enough for people that have zero experience to a proficient level of experience, for them to all be involved,” said Reyes, who designed and helped paint two mural panels and three tables. “We did the sketch, and then I tried to dab a little bit of color — whatever color is supposed to be there, I dabbed a little bit of color right there, so they would have a guide. …

People stand on a scaffold and on the ground while painting a mural on a large panel.

Students and community members help paint a mural panel during a Road to World Cup Community Day event May 2 at Inglewood High School.

(Dawn M. Burkes / Los Angeles Times)

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“I was right there, kind of supervising, making sure that everything went as planned. And if anybody has questions, they’re more than welcome to let me know about them. But, yeah, it’s pretty easy for them to kind of be involved and feel that sense of ownership and have a sense of pride that, ‘Yeah, I was part of that mural-creation process.’ It’s a rich experience for them.”

Acordagoitia sketched several table-top designs for the public to paint at the event.

“They did great,” he said of the community members. “They helped a lot. They were asking questions. They got all the other colors correct. So, yeah, they were excited. A lot of kids were excited to see the live painting, because now kids are used to being on their phones. So that was a great experience for them.”

Acordagoitia also opted to paint a mural panel on his own because “it was a little more technical,” involving portraits of his 8-year-old son, a nephew and a friend.

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“I wanted to focus more on the youth because that’s really our future,” he said. “So that’s, that’s the main thing about the mural, just about the kids, soccer, culture, community. It’s exciting for me, because I grew up playing soccer and to include soccer with art, it’s just a dream come true.”

Guerrero said “the community was a big help in filling in all the background colors that I need in order to build the detail and layers” on the two mural panels she designed.

“My whole style is based on culture. And I think that there’s a connection there with the World Cup and how I feel like it brings together all the culture and just, like, celebration,” Guerrero said. “It kind of goes hand in hand with the type of work I do, because my stuff is really festive, celebrating culture. And just as an L.A.-based artist, I think the collaboration made sense.”

The four artists also took part in another Road to World Cup Community Day in downtown L.A. at Gloria Molina Grand Park on March 14. At that event, the artists sketched designs on large sculptures shaped like soccer balls and an oversized picnic table, also for community members to paint.

While Mr. Ace opted to paint his permanent mural at Inglewood High School United on his own, he was sure to include the community theme into his work.

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“The idea was really centered around just creating something that was community-based — something that represented the World Cup but also represented some sense of community,” he said. “And so what I did was try to create something that was symbolic, very direct in terms of its relationship to soccer and figuring out through that how to create something simple that [brings] into that a sense of community. And that’s how I landed on the two hands holding the soccer ball.”

A man stands in a lift and paints on a wall with blue paint as part of a mural with an ornate design.

Local artist Mr. Ace works on his World Cup-themed mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Back when he was a student on that campus, Mr. Ace said he was always involved in art and knew he wanted a career as an artist. He struggled to come up with the right words to describe how it felt being back there creating a work of art to be shared with the students, all of the community and everyone who happens to see it on the way to a World Cup match.

“I guess there’s no words to really describe it,” he said. “I think if any artist gets the opportunity to paint at their own high school — especially if they’ve been doing large-scale works around the city, the country or the world — I think that is a little touching. When it’s attached to something like the World Cup … you know, a large part of my childhood was spent in Inglewood, so coming from my circumstances and life, I think it’s even more intriguing.”

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Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History

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Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History

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The best Indianapolis 500 finish could be subjective, depending on which driver a fan was rooting for to win.

It certainly is in the eye of the beholder.

So take this list for what it’s worth. One view of the 10 best finishes in Indianapolis 500 history. Of course, it skews to more recent decades when the runs have come a little faster and the finishes have had a tendency to be a little closer.

We’ll add one each day to this list of fantastic finishes ahead of the 110th running of the Indy 500 on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

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10. Ericsson outduels O’Ward (2022)

After a red flag, Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward in a two-lap shootout. The shootout didn’t last two laps, though, as there was a crash on the final lap behind them. Ericsson had a comfortable lead when the red flag came out for a crash with four laps to go, a situation where in past Indianapolis 500 races, they likely would have ended the race under caution with Ericsson as the winner.

9. Foyt survives chaos (1967)

How does a driver who wins by two laps end up on this list? It’s because the win nearly didn’t happen on the last lap. A big crash with cars and debris littering the frontstretch just ahead of Foyt as he came to the checkered flag forced him to navigate through the wreckage for the win.

8. Sato can’t catch Franchitti (2012)

This was one of those finishes where the leader holds on for the win, but boy did the leader have to hold on. Takuma Sato tried to pass Dario Franchitti early on the final lap but to no avail and Franchitti sped off for the victory. This was one of those Indy 500s that made you hold your breath all the way to the checkered flag.

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