LOS ANGELES- It wasn’t so long ago that a regular set to close Los Angeles Lakers games involved a foreign-born seven-footer setting a monster screen for a guard who was often criticized for shooting too much. More often than not, the screen was followed by that guard knocking down a jumper and sealing a Lakers win as the seven-footer high-fived him and gave him a friendly butt slap as they walked back towards their bench while the opposing coach called timeout in frustration.
To say Ivica Zubac and D’Angelo Russell aren’t Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant yet would be the understatement of the century, but the jumper from the icy-veined guard that put the Lakers’ 120-116 win over the Denver Nuggets in the refrigerator was eerily reminiscent of a crunch time staple for those Lakers of yore, and indicative of a potentially promising partnership between the two.