NBA scores 2016: Luke Walton is helping the Lakers love basketball again

Five days ago, Metta World Peace did something we originally assumed to be a rouge, quirky act. As he stepped to the free throw line to replace the injured Timofey Mozgov against the Pacers, World Peace shouted “I LOVE BASKETBALL” to nobody in particular. So hilarious. So typical Metta.

Turns out, the outburst is actually a rallying cry for Luke Walton’s Lakers. After a season engulfed by Kobe Bryant’s retirement tour, the Lakers are trying their damnedest to have fun again, even if it means repeating self-evident slogans in timeouts.

It’s a little corny, but how else do you explain their success? Picked by most to finish at the bottom of the league, the Lakers entered Sunday with over the Rockets, Hawks, and Warriors on their resume. Now, you can add the Suns to the list. Five players scored in double figures and the Lakers held off a Devin Booker surge to win, 119-108, and move to 4-3 on the season.

One play typified the Lakers’ glee. In the game’s final two minutes, Julius Randle found himself in a shouting match with Phoenix’s Tyson Chandler. On the ensuing possession, Randle told everyone to clear out and began lulling Chandler to sleep with the dribble. Everyone thought he was preparing to go one-on-one and show up Chandler for messing with him. Instead, Randle whipped a cross-court pass to Jordan Clarkson for a three that effectively ended the game.

Removing the burden of expectations has done wonders for the Lakers. Whereas last year’s team deferred to the Kobe Show, this year’s club is playing for each other. Walton has fostered an all-for-one mentality that has everyone embracing their role, whether it’s D’Angelo Russell running the team, Nick Young as a newly installed defensive stopper, or Tarik Black packing 48 minutes of rabid energy into 12.

And while Mozgov has provided some stability in the middle, Walton has also co-opted the small, speedy lineups that made the Warriors successful. Walton closed previous games with Randle and Larry Nance Jr. together up front, an athletic duo that can switch onto guards and make plays in transition. With Nance out due to a concussion against the Suns, Walton downsized further and inserted Brandon Ingram at power forward to play with Randle, Russell, Young, and Clarkson. That unit staved off a Suns comeback and put the game back out of reach.

The season is long and the carefree Lakers will likely come back to earth, but this fast start has taught us a lot already. As memorable as Bryant’s twilight seems in retrospect, we may have underestimated how much air it sucked from the rest of the organization. Now that the Lakers have an innovative new coach, a style tailored to the strength of their young talent, and a slogan that anyone can get behind, they are finally headed in the right direction.

In Manhattan, Gordon Hayward returned to the Jazz lineup after fracturing his finger in training camp and picked right where he left off in a victory over the Knicks. He shot poorly from the field, but swiveled his way to 14 free throws and an efficient 28 points on 17 shots.

His presence also clarified the Jazz’s deep wing rotation. Now, the Jazz can again use Rodney Hood as the main creator among a group of reserves, a unit that surged the Jazz into the lead in the fourth quarter. Then, Utah put the game away with the deadly George Hill-Hayward two-man game that the Knicks foolishly switched over and over. Those three and Joe Johnson teamed with Rudy Gobert in a small lineup that the Knicks couldn’t stop.

Poor Kristaps:

In Memphis, Chandler Parsons’ return from offseason knee surgery was less successful. Parsons occasionally helped Memphis’ offense gain a measure of fluidity it lacked without him, but he also missed all eight of his shots in 21 minutes. It’ll take a while for him to regain his rhythm.

Sunday’s shocker came in Boston, where the Nuggets jumped to a 20-point first-quarter lead and never looked back in a blowout win over the Celtics. Emmanuel Mudiay got hot early on and the Celtics never recovered.

There are two ways to look at this result. First, the Nuggets may actually be good! They’re 3-3 on the season, but they’ve played five of their first six on the road and have been in every game save for Saturday’s loss to Detroit. Mudiay was struggling before Sunday and the Nikola Jokic-Jusuf Nurkic pairing has been awkward at times, but Denver is in the top half of the league in defensive efficiency and is getting strong bench production from Wilson Chandler and Kenneth Faried. We may see Mike Malone deploy more lineups with Danilo Gallinari at power forward to juice up the offense after they tore up the Celtics.

On the other hand, what’s going on with the Celtics?

Defense is supposed to be the Celtics’ calling card. They finished sixth in defensive efficiency last season, overcoming their lack of rim protection with tenacious aggression at the point of attack. It’s early and they’ve missed the injured Al Horford and Jae Crowder, but they currently rank 29th, just ahead of the Knicks. Teams like the Nuggets aren’t scared of those pesky guards anymore.

It’s hard to see the Celtics finishing in the bottom third of the league in defense, but then again, it’s also hard to see them continuing to be a top-five offensive team. They need to get their defense in order, and fast.

Life hasn’t been fun for the Mavericks this season. Dirk Nowitzki has been saddled with an Achilles injury and the Mavericks have suffered without him, losing their first five games. That includes an overtime loss to Indiana in the season opener and a defeat at Houston when Wesley Matthews was whistled for a foul on James Harden in the final second (despite possibly being fouled himself).

So they’ll take a win anywhere they can get it, even if it came as ugly as their overtime triumph over the Bucks. Harrison Barnes carried the offense with a career-high 34 points, J.J. Barea hit some clutch shots in overtime, and the defense harassed the Bucks into 27 turnovers. Whatever works to get their fans dancing.

With Nowitzki slated to miss more time, the Mavericks need to scratch out wins like these to have any chance at a playoff run. (Also: stop doing this. This is lame).

Salah Mejri cannot jump as high as he thought.

LeBron James and J.R. Smith campaigned with Hillary Clinton in Ohio

Jazz 114, Knicks 109 (SLC Dunk recap | Posting and Toasting recap)

Blazers 100, Grizzlies 94 (Blazer’s Edge recap | Grizzly Bear Blues recap)

Kings 96, Raptors 91 (Sactown Royalty recap | Raptors HQ recap)

Mavericks 86, Bucks 75 (OT) (Mavs Moneyball recap | Brew Hoop recap)

Nuggets 123, Celtics 107 (Denver Stiffs recap | Celtics Blog recap)

Lakers 119, Suns 108 (Silver Screen and Roll recap | Bright Side of the Sun recap)