MINNEAPOLIS — The Lakers’ Sunday night road win against the Utah Jazz offered LeBron James the closest look at what the first 21 years of his NBA career looked like from a style-of-play standpoint.
James, who turns 40 later this month, was at the center of the Lakers’ late-game offense as a ball handler.
With D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves sidelined, James orchestrated pick-and-rolls with Anthony Davis. He methodically hunted mismatches with Jazz guard Keyonte George.
“You have to have the ability to be able to have that,” James said. “And it’s something we haven’t done. [Sunday] called for that. Obviously we had a lot of our big guns out with AR and D-Lo. So we had to go to something more of a two-man game with myself and A.D., which obviously our team may not be as comfortable with it, but A.D. and I are. So we just try to put the other three guys on the floor in comfortable positions where they can read and react if anything breaks down.”
In other words, “hero ball” – a style of play the Lakers have mostly gone away from under first-year head coach JJ Redick, who has installed an offensive system that prioritizes ball and player movement.
The throwback late-game approach led to so-so results.
The Lakers beat the Jazz, 105-104, on the first night of a back-to-back, before their game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.
“That’s just what the game called for at that moment,” James said. “And was able to execute and make some timely shots.”
But they scored just 19 points in the fourth quarter. And James shot just 5 for 14 in the final period, scoring 10 points.
But there was a comfort for James orchestrating the offense the way he did late on Sunday. He acknowledged that despite being in his 22nd NBA season, it’s been an adjustment to the different style of play.
James’ 29.1% usage rate entering Monday was the second-lowest mark of his career, just ahead of his rookie season.
“Oh, absolutely,” James said on Sunday. “It’s an adjustment. Obviously with D-Lo and AR out, the ball-handling responsibilities heightens more and I had to do that. And it felt like normal for myself. But the way we want to play this year is a little bit different and I’m adjusting to it as well.”
Redick acknowledged the importance of balance ahead of the matchup against the Timberwolves.
“You have to be able to play certain ways against certain matchups,” he said. “I think everybody that I’ve talked to, and that’s our main seven or eight guys, they all feel the same way I do, which is the best version of us is when we have body and ball movement.
“We’ve seen that be a fact. I’ve had conversations with them, they’ve all agreed with that. And I think if you look at the quarters, games where we’ve stalled out, we haven’t had that.”
Russell and Cam Reddish were back in the Lakers’ lineup against the Timberwolves after missing Sunday’s win because of an illness.
Russell started alongside Dalton Knecht, Rui Hachimura, James and Davis.
Reaves missed his second consecutive game because of a bruised left pelvis.
“I feel like he’s getting closer to being able to play,” Redick said of Reaves. “It’s just a day-to-day thing.”
