LeBron James started his second game of the season at center Friday night, and that could be the lineup tweak that helps the Lakers survive until Anthony Davis returns, writes Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. James continued his recent hot streak with 43 points and 14 rebounds, and the added spacing created plenty of opportunities for his teammates.
“This could be something that makes the game easier for him,” coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s not wrestling so much and there’s more space for him to be a roller, there’s just a lot of positives to that. Can’t really get away with it with certain matchups on the other end and obviously when AD comes back he’s going to play a load at the five and then we can play this smaller lineup as well.”
The small-ball approach is familiar for point guard Russell Westbrook, who was with the Rockets when they adopted a center-less lineup two seasons ago. Vogel doesn’t want to make that type of commitment, saying the decision on when to use LeBron in the middle will depend on matchups.
“You play Houston, Christian Wood at center, that’s a clear, ‘Yeah, let’s put Bron at center.’ That’s an easy one,” Vogel explained. “Next game, Steven Adams, biggest, strongest guy in the league; let’s play Dwight (Howard) at center. That’s an easy one. These next few games in the middle, there’s gonna be a lot of in-between types of decisions that we have to make on a game-by-game basis.”
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