Lakers rookie D’Angelo Russell starts, doesn’t finish in loss to Timberwolves

D’Angelo Russell laid out on the eight-foot long Lakers logo in the middle of the locker room, stretching while watching video of a recent Minnesota Timberwolves exhibition game.

It was more than an hour before his NBA debut. He seemed at ease before taking on the Timberwolves.

The rookie finally had the firm support of his coach, who wasn’t sure the draft’s second overall pick would even start in Wednesday’s season opener. It took Byron Scott a mostly sleepless night and an early-morning session of what he called “hot yoga” before deciding Russell would not come off the bench.

“I just think he’s ready. I think he has an inner confidence about himself. He wants to be in this position, he wants to be in that spotlight,” Scott said before the Lakers’ 112-111 loss.

By design, Russell, 19, was more of a shooting guard than point guard Wednesday. Jordan Clarkson handled the ball often, as per Scott’s decree, to allow a smoother transition for Russell’s first NBA run.

Russell had a very quiet night, finishing with four points and two assists in about 26 minutes. He made two of seven shots and wasn’t on the floor in the deciding moments.

He had a rough first quarter, losing Ricky Rubio a couple of times on defense, and picked up two quick fouls. He had trouble tracking Rubio later in the game too, the veteran Timberwolves guard finishing with 28 points and 14 assists.

The player the Lakers drafted instead of Russell, center Jahlil Okafor, had 26 points and seven rebounds in his debut for the Philadelphia 76ers. The third overall draft pick wasn’t flawless, turning over the ball eight times, but his immediate impact was felt more than Russell’s.

Russell had been in and out of the starting lineup in exhibition play, averaging 6.9 points on 38.6% shooting to go with 3.3 assists.

But Scott liked Russell’s response to a talk he had with the former Ohio State point guard last weekend. He wanted Russell to work harder on defense and pay more attention to the little things, including rebounding.

Russell worked on his shooting for an extra 45 minutes after Tuesday’s practice.

“He’s grown,” Scott said. “He’s taken that criticism that I’ve had of him in our one-on-one conversation and he’s taken it to heart. I don’t know if it was more to try to prove me wrong or not, but he really came with a much more focused attitude the last three days.”

Russell, though, shouldn’t relax despite landing the starting job. Scott said so.

“I don’t think I want him to feel that ‘OK, I’m the starter for the next 82 games,’” Scott said. “You’ve got to continue to work and get better. It’s the same thing Jordan had to do once he got his opportunity to play.”

Remembering Flip

The Lakers honored former Timberwolves Coach Flip Saunders by wearing long-sleeve warmup shirts that said “FLIP” in large block letters with a small Minneapolis Lakers logo below the name.

Saunders died Sunday at age 60 after a brief battle with cancer.

“We’d get a chance to see each other at coaches’ meetings and golf tournaments in the summers and things like that, but just the brief moments that I had with him, he was an unbelievable person,” Scott said. “He was just one those guys, he made you feel like you’d known him for a while … just spending 10, 15 minutes with him.”

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan

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