Behind LeBron James, Lakers push the pace to victories

LOS ANGELES >> The Lakers are off and running. No, really. They are running. And running. And running some more.

A week and a half into the NBA season, one obvious trend has emerged: Teams want to get up and down the court as quickly as possible, and the LeBron-ified Lakers are no exception. In fact, the Lakers are generating more pace on offense than nearly every other team in the league, which is saying a lot, and it is all by design.

“We’re good at it,” coach Luke Walton said. “I think our guys enjoy it. They don’t look at it like, ‘Damn, we’ve got to get out and run again.’ We get a stop, and guys are looking ahead to throw the ball, which means the guys that are out running are looking behind them to catch it. We’re tough. We’ve got a lot of guys who can play make in that scenario.”

Their approach was on full display Thursday night in a 121-114 victory against the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center, where LeBron James collected his first triple-double as a member of the team. He had 28 points, 11 assists, 11 rebounds and three steals in his first home victory for the team, and now has 74 career triple doubles, No. 6 on the all-time list, according to basketball-reference.com.

The Nuggets (4-1) absorbed their first loss of the season. And Kobe Bryant, resplendent in a finely tailored suit, observed the proceedings from a baseline seat.

“He was like, ‘Good game,’ after the game, so I was a little hyped,” Lakers guard Lance Stephenson said.

The Lakers are suddenly 2-3 after back-to-back wins, and as much as Walton has preached the importance of defense — he had an angry talk with his players in Phoenix this week — he has also implored them to look for opportunities in transition, which has the added benefit of wearing opponents out. The early returns have been surprisingly decent.

The Lakers are averaging 125.6 points a game, which ranked second in the NBA before today’s games, while producing 109.1 possessions per 48 minutes, which also ranked second. They ranked second in points off turnovers, third in assist-to-turnover ratio and fourth in field-goal percentage while leading the league in fast-break scoring.

It ought to be noted — and this caveat comes with huge, whirling sirens — that these statistics are based on a small sample size, coming less than two weeks into a long season of 82 games. But the Lakers seem determined to stick to their pants-on-fire philosophy. Walton was talking about it before the season even began.

“We’re going to play fast,” he told reporters during training camp. “We have a very deep team — a lot of guys that can push the ball. We want to attack. We think a big strength of ours this year will be our depth, the amount of guys we can throw at you.”

The Lakers are not unique. Teams across the league are playing with terrific tempo. Uniforms should come equipped with oxygen canisters. Consider that the New Orleans Pelicans led the league last season by averaging 102.7 possessions per 48 minutes. This season, that would rank 23rd. Scoring has dramatically increased, too.

NBA defenses have never been more disadvantaged. Seven-footers are capable of draining 3-pointers on fast breaks. Some point guards are the size of power forwards. Positions have become interchangeable. And now, at the league’s behest, referees are cracking down on clutching and grabbing away from the ball, giving scorers even more room to do damage.

Consider the plight of the Washington Wizards, who scored 71 points in the first half against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night — and somehow went to the locker room trailing by 9. The Warriors’ Stephen Curry, who has seldom been more proficient at his craft, was on his way to finishing with 51 points while sinking 11 3-pointers, some of them from Siberia.

“The scoring is absurd,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said before Thursday’s game. “You’re kind of waiting for it to come back down. But when you look at the paper and you look at the scores at nighttime, and you see 140 as a common occurrence now — I don’t know what to make of it.”

Malone did cite the revamped approach by referees as one factor. The league, he said, has been harping on the freedom of player movement.

“Teams are taking advantage of that,” he said. “The reality is this: Most rules that are passed are to favor the offensive player, the offensive team. That makes it a much more exciting game and allows the scoring to get up, which ultimately is what all of our great fans want to see.”

The Lakers ran the floor under Walton last season, too, ranking second in pace. But their style did not yield many wins. The Lakers finished 35-47 and out of the playoff chase. They had some young talent, but lacked depth and experience and leadership.

Enter James, who has spent much of his career showing how dominant he can be in half-court sets. But now, at 33, he has willingly broken out his track spikes. He uses the phrase “push the pace” nearly as often as Walton does, because he knows it is one of the Lakers’ strengths.

At the same time, James already has plenty of mileage after so many seasons and deep playoff runs. Last season, with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he led the league in minutes and appeared in all 82 games. Walton, to his credit, is aware of the dangers.

So, on Thursday, with the Lakers trailing midway through the fourth quarter, Walton pulled out James for a substitute. It was a gamble with an eye on the bigger picture.

“If we’re going to play fast,” Walton said, “I need to find stretches to get him some breaks throughout the season.”

James re-entered the game about three minutes later, and helped steer the Lakers to another win.

“Speed kills,” he said.