After scoring 40 points in Sunday night's 125-120 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, no one would have faulted D'Angelo Russell if he'd just gone home and gotten some rest.However, that's not what the 21-year-old rising star wanted to do. No, after playing 41 minutes and scoring 40 points (to go with six rebounds and two assists), the former Ohio State standout wanted to get some more work in.Russell channeled his inner Kobe Bryant and was spotted in the team's gym working on his shot following the game.In the picture below, someone captured Russell working on his mid-range jumper in the hours after Sunday's defeat. Russell was 14-for-22 from the floor against Cleveland and hit seven of his 12 three-point shots, but he clearly wants to be even better in the future:

Russell is currently averaging 15.3 points, 4.7 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game for the Lakers, who are seemingly committed to getting their young core of players more playing time down the stretch of this lost season.

Even though Russell's 40 points were a career high, he was still out-dueled on Sunday night by Cleveland's Kyrie Irving, who had 46 points on 15-of-21 shooting to lead his team to victory.

Seeing Irving's performance may have helped motivate Russell to hit the gym, as the young Lakers star had nothing but nice things to say about his counterpart:

"He's one of the best guards in the league for a reason," Russell said. "He's a professional scorer. He makes shots, but you just have to try and make it as tough as you can."

One way Russell made it tougher on Irving was by only turning the ball over once. In fact, Los Angeles only turned it over five times all night.

Limiting Cleveland's easy fast-break scoring opportunities kept the game close and gave the Lakers a chance to come away with what would have been an impressive home victory.

However, with the loss, the Lakers fell to 20-50 on the season and now have lost five straight contests. Los Angeles holds the worst record in the Western Conference and the second-worst record in the NBA, ahead of only the lowly Brooklyn Nets.

Cleveland, meanwhile, has the best record in the Eastern Conference with a mark of 46-23. The Cavs lead the Boston Celtics by 2.5 games in the race for the East's No. 1 playoff seed.

Though the home loss was certainly disappointing, the young Lakers have a lot to learn from the Cavaliers, so it was a good experience for Russell and other young future stars like Jordan Clarkson, Brandon Ingram and Julius Randle.