Corey Brewer excited to reunite with Ty Lawson, spark Houston

Back in 2012-13, when the Denver Nuggets were racking up 57 wins under George Karl, Ty Lawson and Corey Brewer meshed well together. When those two shared the court the Nuggets played at a fast 100.5 possessions per game (that’s the Warriors pace from last season) and the team scored 108.3 points per 100 possessions (that would have been third best in the NBA).

You can see why Brewer is pumped to be playing with Lawson again.

They are teammates in Houston and Brewer told James Herbert of CBSSports.com’s Eye on Basketball expects they can recapture that magic.

“I had some good years in Denver with Ty so I know how to play with him and I love the way he plays because he plays fast like I do and he’s going to push the pace, push the tempo. That’s what we need here. That’s what we like to do. We like to run.”

But before that can happen, Ty Lawson needs to get past his personal battle with alcohol, which has led to two DUI arrests this year. Brewer clearly subscribes to the theory that put on a contender with a lot on the line, Lawson will get his life back in order.

“Yeah he’s going to be able to do a lot. You got to think about the different guys he’s going to play with. Denver had some good players, they didn’t have James Harden or Dwight Howard. It’s very different when you play with guys like that.”

For Lawson’s sake, I hope so. It may not be that simple, but I hope so.

Lawson and Brewer did generate offense together, but they also didn’t get a lot of stops — they outscored opponents by just two points per 48 minutes because the defense wasn’t good. It will be interesting to see how Kevin McHale mixes and matches with them to keep the defense solid.

No doubt, however, that the Lawson/Brewer punch can put some points on the board while James Harden rests his beard on the sidelines. The Rockets need that.