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D'Angelo Russell dedicates his game-winning shot to his late grandmother

ben rohrbach
Senior writer

The Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves met in what was for most NBA followers a meaningless game late Sunday night. Little did they know it meant everything to D’Angelo Russell.

After his 3-pointer bounced around the rim and fell through for a game-winner at the buzzer, Russell revealed to Spectrum SportsNet reporter Mike Trudell his grandmother had died earlier in the day:

“I found out my granny was dead this morning, man,” Russell said in disbelief. “That’s tragic. That’s God’s hands, man. I can’t really control that. That’s God making that shot. That shot was for my granny, man. I wasn’t even going to play tonight. Honestly, man, that’s all God right there. …

“Honestly, that was all God. I can’t even talk right now.”

The Lakers mobbed Russell, who then sprinted into the crowd for an emotional embrace from his many family members who were in attendance.

Asked what his grandmother meant to him, Russell said, “Everything, man. My granny was young — a young, strong black woman. She raised my dad, and my dad raised us, and he raised four beautiful men. Shout out to everybody, man. This is crazy.”

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Lakers coach Luke Walton revealed Russell had originally alerted the team on Sunday he wasn’t going to play, because he had hoped to book a same-day flight home to Louisville upon hearing the news. Russell couldn’t make the departure, so he instead texted Walton and informed him he would play.

Russell was just 5-of-18 from the field when he hauled in a rebound off teammate Larry Nance Jr.’s block of Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio with eight seconds left and the Lakers trailing, 109-107. Russell found the artist formerly known as Ron Artest (and, yes, he’s still in the league) in the corner, but his attempt caromed out to Lakers forward Julius Randle, who found Russell on the wing with two seconds remaining.

Russell’s shot circled the rim and bounced high over the cylinder before falling.

D'Angelo Russell's grandmother died suddenly on Sunday, so the Lakers guard honored her the only way he knew how

A post shared by Ball Don't Lie (@yahooballdontlie) on Apr 10, 2017 at 8:43am PDT

“I get goosebumps even talking about the way the game ended,” Walton told reporters. “How awesome for him, and on such a tough day, where obviously basketball is nothing in the big picture of what he’s dealing with, with the death of a family member that was, from talking to him, very close and a big part of their family. But, boy, to see him run and jump into the crowd afterwards and find his family, what a special moment.”

Strangely, there were those in Philadelphia who, unaware of the divine intervention on Russell’s shot from the heavens, celebrated along with L.A. The buzzer-beater marked the struggling Lakers’ season-high fourth straight win — a surprising stretch that moved them into the league’s third-worst record after entering the month second from the bottom

That’s good news for the 76ers, who own L.A.’s top-three protected first-round pick this season. Russell’s shot all but assured the Lakers that their odds of winning a top-three pick in next month’s draft lottery will drop from 55.8 to 46.9 percent.

Of course, that was of little concern to Russell, who gave an emotional interview after the victory:

“Honestly, I knew that’s what my grandmother would’ve wanted,” he said of his decision to play. “My dad, my brothers, everybody wanted me to play. I wanted to get away from basketball. I didn’t want to express myself through basketball, but that’s the only option I had, so I tried to take advantage of it.”

Russell called it the most emotional game he’s played for the Lakers, and the experience took his mind off what was otherwise a trying day, if only for a fleeting moment. “I just wanted to win,” he said, “and for me to win the game with a game-winning shot, that’s just God putting the cherry on top.”

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!