With the NBA well underway, the LA Lakers have been riding a wave of early success. It’s not that it was unexpected, but the fact that the Lakers missed out on signing a third star player to their roster, a lot has fallen on the shoulders of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Laker boomerang Dwight Howard. You would forgive us if we were all a little apprehensive.

Can Dwight  Howard Actually Keep This Up?

When Dwight Howard was signed this year, it wasn’t to the biggest of fanfares considering the splash the signing of Anthony Davis made. There were more laughs than applause.

Howard spent most of last season injured and he’s in his early thirties. Lakers fans weren’t expecting him to bring the same amount of experience and knowledge that someone like James does. But to everyone’s surprise, the Lakers are crushing the Conference NBA standings with a 5-1 record this season. And Dwight Howard has played a key part in that.

With all the past promises of adapting and taking on a smaller role, to do what it took to win, it seems that Howard is actually putting action to those words and has found a role within the team early on.

As the Lakers center and power forward, we expect him to crash the boards and dunk away to success, but he’s happy lobbing passes from behind to Davis to take the glory. And it’s working. And Dwight is scoring on the court, in fact out of 24 shots,  he’s shooting efficiently; converting 19 of those shots. Combine his rediscovered scoring prowess, presence on the court and how he’s helping Davis and James rack up the points; he’s playing the game well. After the recent run, fans have turned their smirks into smiles.

The Great Laker Defense?

The LA Lakers so far have the best defense of the season. This makes a nice change as they’ve been known to have years of average and shockingly bad defense. It was only the power and finesse of their forwards that helped them rebound and win games. Not now. In the few games that they’ve played, the Lakers have the best half-court defense, have forced the third-most turnovers and have a newfound confidence in their defensive capabilities.

James was stated as saying: “We are a defensive team, we want to be the best defensive team in the league. And we can hang our hats on that no matter if we’re playing well offensively.” That ethos is noticed in the team’s current playing abilities and looks sure to be their winning ticket.

Are the Lakers the Favorites to Win?

We might not even be ten games into the season yet, but the bookies have the Lakers as one of the favorites to win the NBA at odds of 13/5 to win, with their LA Rivals the Clippers at 9/4 odds.  However, with a new coach, a great start to the season and the Lakers being the Lakers, the 2019/2020 campaign is going to be an exciting one to watch unfold. But how will they do it?

All Spearheaded by LeBron James

The talisman of the Lakers, as long as James is fighting fit, then the Lakers are sure to be spurred on to victory this season.  Despite the arrival of Howard and the injury of Cousins, it hasn’t affected James’ teamwork with the rest of the squad. He’s already performed the highest points and high assists, with 30 high points over Chicago and 39 over Dallas. By working well with Davis, the two of them are a force to be reckoned with and run riot on center court. Already they’re both tough players in their right so imagine the look on the face of the competition when they’re named on the roster.

Add to that the sharpshooting abilities of Danny Green, Kyle Kuzma, and Troy Daniels; they’re helping keep the forwards by creating more space while firing off three-pointers. The roster also includes some journey men that have played well including Avery Bradley, JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo, Quinn Cook, Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. That’s all with a DeMarcus Cousins that tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and looks to be out for the best part of a year.

That’s all supported by the team’s best defense they’ve ever had. The Lakers have five players who have been named in an all-defense team, and as James has said, defense is a key focus for them this year. The Lakers also have an experienced team and are the second-oldest team in the NBA. So, when it comes to different offensive maneuvers, they know what tricks are going to be pulled and how to counteract them.

James isn’t just an amazing basketball player and physical specimen. LBJ is one of the most-intelligent players to have bee on the court.  Combine that with his experience of the game, and we can see coach Frank Vogel’s visions come to life. The passes, the runs, the smooth teamwork. It’s all working together to help the Lakers this season as they run away to success.

We know what we’ll get from Davis, but how far the Lakers go this season will come down to LeBron’s motivation, Dwight’s resurgence and whether a couple role players can step up into the gaps.