詹姆斯和戴维斯感到惊讶的是：洛杉矶湖人队的，即时化学反应

多年以来，哈基姆·奥拉朱旺（Hakeem Olajuwon）都曾在补篮艺术中辅导NBA球星，并用颜料教授他的步法和魔术。

如果他愿意的话，克里斯·波什（Chris Bosh）可以组建一个不同的小众群体：与勒布朗·詹姆斯一起比赛的大个子。

博什说：“和勒布朗一起打球就像买了一辆法拉利。” “您知道它是世界上最好的。看到它时，它看起来很棒。但是，您不知道一旦尝试驱动它，它有多强大。您可以马上离开。”

波什学会了艰难的方法。由于在迈阿密热火队赢得了两个冠军并获得了11个全明星入选权，其中包括与詹姆斯一起出战的四个奖项，他将很快进入名人堂。但是，唯一让他学习如何与詹姆斯比赛的东西实际上是在做。

对于在克利夫兰的凯文·洛夫（Kevin Love）来说，与詹姆斯一起打球不仅意味着要弄清楚他应该在场上的位置-洛夫在詹姆斯的第一个赛季每场比赛少打六杆，而且还如何避免大众媒体和社交媒体陷入困境。

当詹姆斯首次与洛杉矶的安东尼·戴维斯（Anthony Davis）合作时，他们试图通过答应彼此保持同一个页面来避免这些陷阱。 “我在这里看到的是他们在篮球场上共度时光，”湖人队教练弗兰克·沃格尔说。 “坦率地说，即使是在电影节上，在更衣室里，他们两个似乎总是在一起，并建立起这种友谊。...我认为勒布朗已经尽了全力确保自己是竭尽全力确保Anthony对他的新团队感到​​满意。”

由于詹姆斯与波什和洛夫合并的过去问题，两人试图将他们对赛季初的成功保持低期望。但是詹姆斯和戴维斯在一起玩的很棒。尽管您看到他们正在探索和发展自己的偏好，但在此过程的早期，工会甚至超出了乐观的希望。

“我不认为我们能够如此快速地连接，仅仅是因为他今年夏天在“ Space Jam [2]”中有很多东西要玩，所以我们没有太多时间 一起努力。”戴维斯说。 “然后我们参加了短暂的训练营，不得不去中国，以及所有这些东西，所以令我惊讶的是我们现在有了一点联系。”

这让波什感到惊讶。 詹姆斯（James），波什（Bosh）和德怀恩·韦德（Dwyane Wade）曾在多个夏天和许多全明星赛中与美国队（Team USA）一起比赛，但这并不能保证他们在迈阿密的顺利起步。 那个小组在9-8开始了他们的第一个赛季，直到第二个赛季才真正找到节奏。

湖人是8-2，一直是联盟中最好的防守球队之一，詹姆斯获得了三双。

博什说：“美国队和全明星赛是化学的催化剂，但这不是现实生活。” “你进入了未知的领域，你希望在圣诞节之前找到一种节奏，然后从那里变得更好。”

根据ESPN统计和信息研究，在前九场比赛中，詹姆斯协助戴维斯打入了26个篮筐，比任何其他队友都要多10个篮筐。相比之下，他与波什（Bosh）的前九场比赛有17次助攻，而他与洛夫（Love）的前九场比赛仅产生11次。他们的挡拆声引起了球迷们热爱的精彩扣篮，以及对阵教练的噩梦。即使它们有时会错位，但还是很容易看到自然流。

“我认为这是[勒布朗]天才的一部分，他能够变身为自己所需要的东西，从而发挥出其他球员中的佼佼者，”热火教练埃里克·斯波斯特拉（Erik Spoelstra）说，他的球队上周面对湖人。 “他与[Bosh]的联系非常自然，我认为这就像手套一样。...当两个人都想这样做时，致力于使它变得更好的过程，您就是在做看到随着季节的进行而大​​大改善。”

当然，情况是不同的。在迈阿密和克利夫兰，当詹姆斯与超级巨星结盟时，他们形成了三巨头，而不是像现在这样的大两家。另外，詹姆斯在他职业生涯的这个阶段是一个不同的球员，部分原因是他是湖人队的主要控球后卫。

他专注于让戴维斯控球并保持节奏。在本赛季的第一场比赛中，詹姆斯将球逼向戴维斯，以至于他忘记了自己的比赛，戴维斯最终得到17个补篮，这是他职业生涯中最多的一场比赛。

上周，戴维斯（Davis）被评为“本周西部最佳球员”-对于曾经六次获得冠军的巨星而言，这并不奇怪。但是请考虑一下：自从詹姆斯在2004年赢得他的63个“每周最佳球员”奖以来，只有五位队友曾经与他并肩作战。

在詹姆斯对克利夫兰的第三个赛季中，洛夫（Love）四年赢得了一次胜利，这是在对阵开拓者（开拓者）的比赛中得到的，他在第一节得到了34分。凯里·欧文（Kyrie Irving）与詹姆斯（James）在三个赛季中两次获奖。戴维斯在第二周做到了。

詹姆斯说：“我认为，随着日子的流逝，这种情况越来越好，就像任何关系一样。” “场上的关系，场上的关系。你们在一起的时间越来越多，如果你们的心目中的目标相同，动力相同，那么它自然就会发生。”

詹姆斯的队友曾经想成为MVP候选人曾经是不可想象的。仅有几次与前MVP成为队友的球员一起获得了奖项，通常是因为更高级的合作伙伴正退出联盟。

詹姆斯（Shaquille O'Neal）即将退休，詹姆斯在克利夫兰（Cleveland）赢得了2010年MVP奖。蒂姆·邓肯（Tim Duncan）在海军上将职业生涯的最后两年与戴维·罗宾逊（David Robinson）一起获胜。拉里伯德（Larry Bird）赢得了前冠军比尔·沃尔顿（Bill Walton）的替补席，比赛时间为19分钟。魔术师约翰逊（Magic Johnson）与贾里姆·阿卜杜勒·贾巴尔（Kareem Abdul-Jabbar）赢得了两个MVP，一个是Kareem 39岁时，另一个是他上赛季41岁时。

即使此时戴维斯不是MVP的最爱，但仅仅参加对话就表明取得了巨大的成功-这意味着詹姆斯正在吸引这位年轻球星的顶级表现。

戴维斯轻描淡写地说：“伙计，我想赢得的不仅仅是一个MVP。” “显然，这是在赛季初；如果是MVP，那就来了。如果是年度最佳防守球员，那就来了。但是整个团队的主要目标是赢得冠军，我们正努力保持在此时此刻。”

詹姆斯开玩笑说他和戴维斯还不是花生酱和果冻-詹姆斯用三明治的比喻来形容他与韦德的关系，当他们于2017年再次在克利夫兰再次加入时，再婚以迅速而失败的方式结束-但更多像花生酱和香蕉。

到目前为止，湖人的赛程安排良好，这刷新了他们的战绩，但是无论输赢，双方的合作关系都显示出足够的希望，表明湖人本赛季的视野会不断扩大。而且还应该有更多。

博什说：“我们花了数小时，数日，数日的时间参加深夜会议，感到紧张和欣喜，而整个时间段都是如此。” “他和公元将陷入困境，但要了解自己是谁，就需要付出艰辛的努力。您想要其中的一些。他们希望它能够发挥作用，您可以看到，这样就可以了。”

For years, Hakeem Olajuwon tutored NBA stars in the art of the post-up, teaching his footwork and sorcery in the paint.

If he wanted to, Chris Bosh could coach up a different niche group: big men playing with LeBron James.

"Playing with LeBron was like buying a Ferrari," Bosh said. "You know it's the best in the world. It looks amazing when you see it. But you have no idea how powerful it is once you try to drive it. You can go right off the road."

Bosh learned the hard way. He will walk into the Hall of Fame soon thanks to winning two titles with the Miami Heat and earning 11 All-Star selections, including four playing alongside James. But the only thing that allowed him to learn how to play with James was actually doing it.

For Kevin Love in Cleveland, playing with James meant figuring out not only where he was supposed to be on the court -- Love got six fewer shots a game in his first season with James -- but also how to avoid mass media and social media quagmires off of it.

When James first teamed up with Anthony Davis in Los Angeles, they sought to avoid those pitfalls by promising each other to try to stay on the same page. "What I'm seeing here is how much they spend time together away from the basketball court," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. "And quite frankly, even in film sessions, in the locker room, it seems like the two of them are always together and just building that, that friendship. ... I think LeBron's just done everything in his power to make sure that he's going out of his way to make sure Anthony's comfortable with his new team."

The two tried to keep expectations low for their early-season success because of the past issues James had merging with Bosh and Love. But James and Davis are playing fabulously together. Although you see them probing and developing their preferences, the union has exceeded even optimistic hopes for this early in the process.

"I didn't think we were going to be able to connect this fast just because of the fact he had a lot of stuff going on this summer with 'Space Jam [2],' so we didn't get a lot of time to work out together," Davis said. "Then we hit a short training camp and had to go to China, and all that stuff, so I'm surprised that we've got a little connection right now."

That's what has surprised Bosh. James, Bosh and Dwyane Wade played with one another on Team USA for multiple summers and in numerous All-Star Games, but that didn't guarantee a smooth start together in Miami. That group began its first season together at 9-8 and really didn't find a rhythm until the second season.

The Lakers are 8-2 and have been among the best defensive teams in the league, with James racking up triple-doubles.

"Team USA and the All-Star Games are catalysts for chemistry, but it's not real life," Bosh said. "You're coming in with known unknowns, and you hope to find a rhythm by maybe Christmas and then get better from there."

Through their first nine games, James had assisted Davis on 26 baskets, 10 more than any other teammate, per ESPN Stats & Information research. Compare that to his first nine games with Bosh, when it was 17 assists, and his first nine with Love, which produced only 11. Their pick-and-rolls have resulted in the highlight dunks that fans love and a schematic nightmare for opposing coaches. And even though they sometimes are caught a little out of position, there's a natural flow that's easy to see.

"I think that's part of [LeBron's] genius that he's able to morph into whatever he needs to be, to bring out the best out of the other players," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team faced the Lakers last week. "His connection with [Bosh] was pretty natural, and I think this is, this just fits like a glove. ... When both guys want to do it, commit to the process of getting better with it, you're just going to see that improve dramatically as the season goes on."

The scenarios are different, of course. In Miami and Cleveland, when James joined up with superstars, they formed a big three, not a big two as is the case now -- there were more mouths to feed and egos to mesh. Plus, James is a different player in this phase of his career, in part because he's the Lakers' primary point guard.

He's focused on getting Davis the ball and into a rhythm. In the first game of the season, James forced the ball toward Davis so much that he forgot about his own game and Davis ended up with 17 post-ups, easily the most for any game in his career.

Last week, Davis was named Western Conference Player of the Week -- no surprise for a megastar who has won it six times before. But consider this: Since James won his first of 63 Player of the Week awards in 2004, only five teammates have ever earned one alongside him.

Love won it once in four years with James, in his third season in Cleveland, propelled by a game against the Portland Trail Blazers in which he had a 34-point first quarter. Kyrie Irving won it twice in three seasons with James. Davis did it in Week 2.

"I think it's getting better and better as the days go on, just like with any relationship," James said. "The relationship on the court, the relationship off the floor. The more and more time you spend together, if you guys have the same goals in mind, you have the same drive, then it organically happens."

It was once unthinkable for a teammate of James' to be an MVP candidate. Only a few times have players won the award with a former MVP as a teammate, usually as the more senior partner was on his way out of the league.

James won the 2010 MVP award in Cleveland with Shaquille O'Neal near retirement. Tim Duncan won alongside David Robinson in the final two years of the Admiral's career. Larry Bird won with former winner Bill Walton playing 19 minutes off the bench. Magic Johnson won two MVPs with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one when Kareem was 39 and another when he was in his last season at 41.

Even if Davis is not the MVP favorite at this point, just being in the conversation indicates a smashing success -- it means that James is drawing top-level play out of the younger star.

"I'm trying to win much more than an MVP, man," Davis said, playing down the notion. "It's early in the season, obviously; if the MVP comes, it comes. If the Defensive Player of the Year comes, it comes. But the entire team's main goal is to win a championship, and we're trying to just stay in the moment right now."

James has joked that he and Davis aren't quite peanut butter and jelly yet -- James used the sandwich metaphor to describe his relationship with Wade when they joined up again in Cleveland in 2017, a remarriage that ended poorly and quickly -- but more like peanut butter and banana.

The Lakers have had a favorable schedule so far, boosting their record, but regardless of the wins and losses, the partnership is showing enough promise that the Lakers' horizons for the season appear to be expanding. And there should be more to come.

"We spent hours and hours, days and days with late-night meetings and tension and jubilation, the whole gamut," Bosh said of learning to play with James. "He and AD will have their struggles, but it takes that struggle to understand who they are. You want some of that. They want it to work, you can see that, so it will."