Russell has struggled to stay on the floor since joining the Nets in a Dec. 29 trade from the Los Angeles Lakers. He's missed six of the team's last 13 matchups while battling shin and hamstring ailments. The veteran point guard has shouldered a much heavier on-ball burden than with the Lakers during the first half of this season.

In the crosstown rivalry game, New York nearly let up a fourth-quarter comeback, scoring just 15 points in the final 12 minutes. However, Brooklyn's 20 fourth-quarter points weren't enough. The Nets had relatively even scoring across the board,

After the Los Angeles Lakers traded Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks to the Nets last month in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton, he dropped 22 points off the bench in his season debut with Brooklyn in a 130-113 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 1.

D’Angelo Russell is adjusting to a featured role with the Brooklyn Nets following a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers. After a tumultuous start to the season in Los Angeles under head coach JJ Redick,

Here are the Brooklyn Nets player grades following Tuesday's 99-95 loss to the New York Knicks in Mikal Bridges' return to Brooklyn.

The Los Angeles Lakers have only made one trade this year so far. They decided to ship out D'Angelo Russell in return for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. Milton has already fallen out of the rotation in Los Angeles.