D’Angelo Russell, his voice as flat as an NBA backboard, emphasized the importance of bolding and underlining what he was about to say.

“I’m going to keep hammering it,” he promised. But what you see is a group working it out.

Russell made these comments to the press on Monday after his Lakers squeaked out a close victory over the Orlando Magic.

On Wednesday, when the first quarter was halfway over, it still didn’t look like the trip was nearing its conclusion.

A 12th straight loss to their neighbors, the Clippers, appeared likely, and it almost surely was going to be lopsided and ugly.

Then, it wasn’t because of a team effort spearheaded by the NBA’s career scoring leader.

After losing to the Clippers in the playoffs in 2020, LeBron James scored 35 points in 42 minutes of action to lead the Lakers to a 130-125 overtime victory.

For the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard scored 38 points, Paul George added 35, and Russell Westbrook chipped in 24.

The Lakers were led by Anthony Davis with 27 points, D’Angelo Russell with 25, and Austin Reaves with 7, including the game-winning over-the-shoulder lob to LeBron James for an emphatic slam in overtime.

Leonard, who was playing the second half of a back-to-back, started off blazing, scoring 18 points despite missing his first five attempts. The Clippers opened up a comfortable lead that eventually reached 19, but back-to-back threes by the Lakers at the very end of the quarter prevented things from getting too out of hand.

After then, the Lakers did not really do anything besides hang about, never really posing a threat but yet never really losing steam.

When Taurean Prince felt pain in his left knee during pregame warmups, it compounded the Lakers’ injury woes. They were already missing Rui Hachimura (concussion protocol), Jared Vanderbilt (heel), and Gabe Vincent (knee).

Cam Reddish was inserted into the Lakers’ starting lineup. They eventually had to start Davis at center alongside backups Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood. And the innovation all paid off.

With their big three on the court, the Lakers were able to turn the game around in the third quarter and take the lead for the first time since Reddish’s opening layup.

The Lakers were helped out by a variety of players, including Hayes, Wood, and Max Christie off the bench, as well as Reddish’s on-ball defense and timely scoring from Reaves.

In the final period, the Lakers’ lead grew to nine points before Leonard, George, and Westbrook sparked a Clippers comeback.

With 17 seconds remaining, after being fouled by Reddish, George made three free throws to tie the game, and overtime was necessary since Russell’s potential game-winning shot missed the mark.

But less than a minute into overtime, George fouled out, and the Lakers rallied for a victory, capped by a putback slam by Wood in the final seconds.

It was a matter of time before the Lakers figured it out in plain sight, as Russell had alluded to earlier in the week.