D'Angelo Russell Excites Twitter Despite Lakers' Loss to Knicks Without LeBron James

Although the Lakers took a step back in its push to climb up the Western Conference after losing to the New York Knicks 112-108 on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena, D'Angelo Russell put on a show in another tremendous primetime performance.

In just his second game back from injury for the Lakers, Russell poured in 33 points to go along with eight assists and five rebounds in the loss. He just didn't get enough support for the win, namely from his fellow star Anthony Davis, who struggled for most of the night.

Davis finished with just 17 points on 8-of-18 shooting, though he did pull down 16 boards. Meanwhile, New York's two stars of the night, Julius Randle and RJ Barrett, combined for 66 points and were just too much for the Lakers to handle.

Russell also scored 28 points with nine dimes in the Lakers' previous game, a win over the Toronto Raptors. He's been one of the team's best players since being acquired ahead of the trade deadline from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

If Los Angeles completes its playoff push, it'll be thanks in large part to the play of Russell.

And Twitter wanted to give the former All-Star his props.

With the loss, the Lakers fell to 33-35 and, with the bunched-up nature of the Western Conference, were knocked out of the play-in spots and the playoff picture. They sit right behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are the 10th seed.

The team will try to stay afloat and in the picture without superstar LeBron James, who is still expected to miss some more time with a foot tendon injury.