If you play hard every night, you have a chance to win,” the first-year coach said after the Lakers gave up an 18-point lead but still managed to win Thursday.

The Los Angeles Lakers are now well into their first season under head coach JJ Redick, whose hiring was first subjected to doubts.

There will be highlights aplenty with two talents of this caliber teaming up, of course, but how the Lakers choose to divvy up possessions will in many ways define how the offense is run. After the Lakers stared down old demons and took down their familiar playoff foe in the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night,