A not-so-subtle shift is taking place in Ty Lawson’s game. The Nuggets’ point guard is doing more pure point guard things more often, and it has been just what his team has needed.
It has been simple: more passing, less scoring.
For Lawson, “aggressiveness” used to solely mean getting to the basket and scoring. He was the Nuggets’ leading scorer on the team that won 57 games and finished third in the Western Conference in 2013. Now, that same term is attached to a different set of skills for a Nuggets team that has won four of its past five games.
“It all comes back to Ty setting the table for everybody,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “When he comes out aggressive offensively and he’s attacking the paint, it makes it easier for everybody else.”
In the Nuggets’ five wins, of the players who have played in at least three of them, Arron Afflalo is the leading scorer at 17.4 points per game. He’s followed by Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried … and then Lawson, who checks in at 12.8 points per game.
Under previous coach George Karl, Lawson was an attack-first point guard, the player the Nuggets needed to be the leading scorer in order to put themselves in the best position to win on a nightly basis. Even last season, that was largely the case.
But as the roster has changed Lawson’s role has, too.
He’s counted on to be more traditional in his role — to set up the offense, to get teammates going, to create open looks for others. And then to score.
“You look at a guy that can make plays,” Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “I don’t know how he does it at times, but he gets in there and slithers his way through there and makes plays and scores in transition.”
Ask Shaw, and he’ll tell you Lawson remains the first option on every play that is called. But increasingly, the mere threat of Lawson caving a defense by getting into the lane and all the way to the rim has been good enough.
His playmaking has moved to the front as the new most valuable part of his game.
• In Nuggets wins, Lawson has averaged 12.8 points, 10.2 assists and 2.8 turnovers.
• In Nuggets losses, Lawson has averaged 19.0 points, 8.2 assists and 3.3 turnovers.
The addition of Afflalo has taken a huge scoring burden off Lawson’s shoulders, freeing him to be a pass-first, shoot-second player. The Nuggets are 3-1 in games when Lawson has collected 10 or more assists. They are 1-4 when he scores 17 or more points.
How big a playmaker is he? Lawson has assisted on 57 percent of the Nuggets’ made shots this season. Among NBA players who have played at least 10 games, only Mo Williams and Rajon Rondo have higher assist percentages.
“He does it all year long,” Afflalo said. “He’s one of the few guys — if not the only guy on this team — that can create for his teammates. And he takes pride in doing that.”
Lawson’s big shift into becoming one of the NBA’s top assist men started under Shaw. Lawson has had more double-digit assist games in 73 games under Shaw (29) than he had in all of his other seasons combined (28).
“The biggest difference is he has more weaponry this time around,” Shaw said of Lawson’s big assist totals. “I don’t want to knock the guys that aren’t here, but he’s passing to different guys this year, and different guys pose different threats out there on the floor in terms of who the defense has to honor. More guys can finish plays off for him if he can’t finish them off himself.”
Even when the Nuggets weren’t shooting well, Lawson was able to rise to fifth in the NBA in assists.
“He’s still putting defenses in position to have to pick their poison,” Shaw said. “He’s spoon-feeding everybody, and we know that that’s what his value is to us as a team.”
DENVER AT L.A. LAKERS
7:30 p.m. Sunday, ALT; 950 AM
Spotlight on Nick Young: You might not like the nickname “Swaggy P,” but Nick Young doesn’t care. He does care about making shots, however, and much of the time he makes a ton of them. After missing the first 10 games of the season with a broken finger (the Lakers lost nine of those), he made his mark upon his return by helping the team to back-to-back victories. The Lakers are 2-1 with Swaggy P playing.
NOTEBOOK
Nuggets: The Nuggets are 7-3 in their past 10 games against the Lakers. They swept the season series last year, 3-0. … The Nuggets’ new, tighter rotation has claimed a couple of players, most notably forward J.J. Hickson. Once a permanent fixture in the rotation, Hickson has now not played in back-to-back games as Nuggets coach Brian Shaw has shortened the bench.
Lakers: The Lakers are coming off their worst defensive effort of the season, allowing 140 points to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday. Eight out of the 12 Mavericks who played scored in double figures, and the team made a scorching 62 percent of its shots, including 18 3-pointers. … Forward Ryan Kelly is out with a torn right hamstring.
Christopher Dempsey, The Denver Post
