The Lakers cruised to victory on the road on Tuesday, beating the Raptors 128-111.

D’Angelo Russell was a big reason for this, scoring a team-high 25 points and continuing his excellent shooting from deep, converting on seven 3-pointers in the win.

After the victory, Russell discussed how well the team had been getting along recently.

“It’s good,” Russell said. “Lot of smiles on guys’ faces. We have so much fun outside of basketball as a group and I think it translates over. For us, the more fun we have, the better we are as a team on the floor. A lot of teams I’ve been on have been like that. We have a lot of fun off the floor supporting one another; birthday parties or whatever it may be, we support it and it translates. Just trying to keep it going.”

Russell’s play has been a big reason the chemistry and wins are accumulating. He’s been a consummate professional all season, ignoring the trade rumors and even playing so well that the Lakers decided to keep him.

After the deadline came and went, his focus and level of play stayed high. With him as a starting guard, this team is beginning to remind fans of last year’s iteration.

Momentum, like art, is hard to describe, but you know it when you see it.

Once it starts, everything is suddenly better. The food tastes fresher, jokes are funnier and Southern California’s sun shines brighter. The Lakers are currently away from that California sunshine on a six-game road trip.

This time away has been very successful, with Los Angeles having won four of the five games they’ve played and are now ten games above .500, their highest winning percentage of the season.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t led to a jump in the Western Conference standings, as the teams in front of the purple and gold have also been winning most of their games, maintaining separation.

If the Lakers can carry this momentum, along with the return of reinforcements like Gabe Vincent, into the postseason, then this team will be a force to be reckoned with this spring/summer, regardless of their place in the standings.