D'Angelo Russell was benched by Byron Scott late in the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers' loss to the Dallas Mavericks, apparently for his shot selection.
"I saw the last couple minutes that he was in that he was really trying to take over the game, and that's not him yet," Scott said. "I want the ball to move a little bit. I thought it stuck with him. He tried to make the big shots and things like that. I understand that, but to me, that's not him right now."
In general, Scott said of Russell, "He's been more aggressive to score. I think sometimes he's taking what they're giving him, and I think there's other times where I think he's kind of forcing the issue. He has to find a happy medium. He's learning."
Russell finished the game with 12 points on 4-for-12 shooting.
"We had four, five playmaking players out there," Russell said. "I feel like everybody was trying to [take over]. They're a veteran team. They rarely mess up. So when you catch them slipping a little bit, you've got to take advantage of it."
"I love the fact that he has confidence," Scott said. "When it gets to the point where it's cockiness, then we've got a problem."
