Lakers are reaching a new offensive ceiling with their new (old) starting lineup and rotation

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    LOS ANGELES — The signs of arguably the Los Angeles Lakers’ best offensive performance of the season were apparent during their first two baskets in Wednesday’s 127-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks at Crypto.com Arena.
    On their first offensive possession, LeBron James came up to screen for D’Angelo Russell as Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and Taurean Prince spaced the floor. Russell delivered a precise pocket pass to a rolling James, who took one dribble and drew Davis’ defender, rookie center Dereck Lively II.
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    With Lively rotating over to stop James’ foray to the rim, James shoveled a quick pass to a cutting Davis, who finished with an easy dunk despite two Mavericks players contesting him.
    A couple of offensive possessions later, James dribbled the ball up the left sideline. Russell set a cross-screen for Davis, who cut across the lane and caught an entry pass from James a few feet outside the left block. As Davis surveyed the Mavericks’ defense, Russell, trotting up the lane, swiftly pointed to an open Prince on the opposite wing, drawing the attention of his own defender. Then, realizing that Dallas was rotating over to double-team Davis, Russell made a U-turn to cut to the basket for a layup.
    Behind a combined 105 points from their starters, the Lakers blew out the Mavericks to improve to 21-21. It was just the second time since the In-Season Tournament championship that the Lakers have won two consecutive games. They’ve now won four of six games — including wins over the Clippers, Thunder and Mavericks — after losing 10 of their previous 13.
    “I think guys are doing a great job staying disciplined with their spacing and understanding and knowing when to slash or when to get into an open window to be able to hit them on a kick-out,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said of his new (old) starting lineup.
    Though the Lakers didn’t score a season-high or post a season-best offensive rating, the process of how they scored — the ball movement, the screening, their organization running sets, their decision-making, the aggression in transition — was as good as any other game this season.
    Los Angeles shot 53.8 percent and dished 33 assists on 49 field goals, improving to 10-4 when it has 30 or more assists. The Lakers dominated the Mavericks in the paint (62-46 advantage) and in transition (32-7 advantage), which is often their recipe for success.
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    Russell scored a team-high 29 points, James had 25 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Davis posted a near-triple-double with 28 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.
    “We’re just moving the basketball,” Davis said. “Trying to play the right way. When we share the basketball, good things tend to happen.”
    Over the past six games, the Lakers rank 15th in offensive rating, scoring 117.1 points per 100 possessions. Though that’s merely a league average mark, it’s notable progress in comparison with their season-long bottom-10 offense, especially considering their recent opponents. Their attack is trending in the right direction with some sustainable improvement.
    Los Angeles has suffered notoriously slow starts this season, performing as one of the league’s worst first-quarter teams for much of the season. The Lakers still rank 29th in first-quarter net rating at minus-11.5. But their new starting lineup — featuring multiple shooters, ballhandlers and playmakers next to James and Davis, along with more direction from the coaching staff — has unlocked the group’s offensive ceiling.
    The results back up the importance of starting strong: When the Lakers lead at the end of the first quarter, they are 11-4 this season. When they are tied or trailing, they are 10-17.
    “Us starting first quarters well just kind of trickles down to the rest of the quarters and to the bench,” Davis said. “When we tend to start off slow or put a lot of pressure on our second unit to come in and bring that spark. … Obviously, it’s not going to be like that all the time, but for the most part, we want to come in as a first unit and set the tone.”
    Ham noted before the game that the Lakers have been emphasizing their off-ball screening and movement in an attempt to juice up an offense that’s largely been lackluster this season outside of a few outlier performances and blowouts over lottery teams.
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    “We look for ways to create advantages,” Ham said. “And (screening is) the one way to do it. You do things with pace, and you put bodies on bodies, good things usually happen.”
    Inserting Russell back into the starting lineup has revitalized him after a rough post-IST stretch. He played one of his best games of the season against Dallas, leading the team in scoring for the seventh time on impressive efficiency (11-of-20 shooting and 5-of-7 3-point shooting).
    He’s back to playing with his trademark confidence and freedom while also buying into the dirty work with more engaged on-ball defense and more screening and activity off the ball offensively.
    “I just know my credibility,” Russell said. “I know what I’m capable of. I’ll never forget it.”
    Along with Davis, Russell led the second-half surge, scoring 11 points in the third quarter as the Lakers turned the game into a rout with a 42-27 frame. Russell’s ability to score a flurry of points at once — which helped the Lakers win several playoff games during their Western Conference finals run last season — alleviates the offensive burden on James and Davis, allowing them to rest during offensive possessions to focus more on the defensive end.
    “Just takes pressure off me and AD and then our other guys ’cause his ability to get points in bunches,” James said.
    Davis added; “He’s been playing well as of late and just being DLo. The DLo that we know he can be. He’s definitely given us a spark, given us a push. And we know when he’s coming down making his pull-up 3s, making the right plays, it’s fun to watch.”
    Davis narrowly missed out on his third career triple-double (and second in three games) with just nine assists. Those nine helpers led to 28 Lakers points, including eight for Russell. Davis has been in quite the passing groove recently, posting five or more assists in four of his past five games.
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    The Lakers have shown an improved ability to leverage the attention Davis commands. Here’s an example: Los Angeles runs a sideline out-of-bounds set in which Reaves takes an inbounds pass and waits for Davis to come off a pindown from James. Davis catches with the option to curl, sees James’ defender is with him and immediately pivots, finding James for an easy dunk.
    This is a designed set with a clear counter that uses Davis’ passing skill.
    James hinted that he and Davis have been strategizing better ways to pass out of double-teams, with the onus also being on Davis’ teammates to be in the right spots on the floor to help him succeed.
    “He’s learning from me how to pass out of the post,” James said with a smile. “That’s what I’m seeing. I’m serious. He’s working on it, and it’s great. Teams going to stop doubling him soon. As long as we make shots for him, then teams will stop doubling him. It’s our job to make sure we’re in the right position at the right time when he gets doubled. We have a numbers game, it’s gonna be a four-on-three on the back side, so we have to put ourselves in position.”
    The story of Wednesday’s win was the offensive explosion, but it’s worth mentioning that the Lakers’ defense, led by a rejuvenated Jarred Vanderbilt, limited the Mavericks to 11-of-40 3-point shooting (27.5 percent), including a combined 3 of 21 from Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving and Tim Hardaway Jr.
    There is some luck in those percentages, as there was in Monday’s victory over Oklahoma City. But the Lakers have been on the other end of ridiculous opponent shooting performances far too often this season. Part of that stems from Ham’s defensive strategy, which is often willing to surrender open 3s to better protect the basket. But part of it has been bad luck. That luck is beginning to even out, at least temporarily.
    Dončić still posted a triple-double in his return from an ankle injury, dropping 33 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. But the Lakers limited Irving to just 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting, using a combination of Vanderbilt’s size and late double-teams to disrupt Irving’s rhythm.
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    Their defensive execution in the third quarter enabled a 27-8 run that essentially put the game away.
    “Usually when you play good defense, it triggers good offense,” Ham said. “It’s been great to watch.”
    The return to the season’s original starting lineup has given the Lakers a clear offensive identity, with that effectively preserving their defense even with lesser personnel on the floor. The realignment has also led to bigger bench lineups — often with Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura at the two and the three, respectively — that have been able to maintain leads, if not extend them.
    James complimented Ham’s rotations after the win.
    “I think the rotations have been pretty solid because coach knows who’s playing, who’s not playing,” James said. “Guys are logging minutes with lineups that they’re kind of starting to get a familiarity with.”
    Familiarity and rhythm have been the buzzwords among players in the Lakers’ locker room after their two latest wins. The group is happy that there has been clear rotation trends over the past couple of games, with players knowing exactly when they’re going to enter and exit games.
    The Lakers are never going to be an elite offense because they don’t have the requisite 3-point shooting and downhill athleticism that the best offenses have — though that can change ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline. But with the right pace and spacing, playing through Davis and emboldening Russell and Reaves to carry larger scoring loads, they can extract enough value to consistently be around league average, if not better.
    Los Angeles hosts the Brooklyn Nets on Friday and the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, two bottom-10 defenses that provide golden opportunities to climb back above .500.
    “When we can have a set lineup and guys know their rotations and know when they’re coming in and out of a game, it helps rebuild that connection and continuity,” Davis said. “Having that the past couple of games has been working for us.”
    (Top photo: Adam Pantozzi / NBAE via Getty Images)

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