Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard, once seen as malcontents, are helping the Lakers’ playoff run

LeBron James scored the Lakers’ first 12 points and had 20 by halftime. Anthony Davis hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer — “the biggest shot of my career,” he said — to seal a 105-103 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 on Sunday. Here was the one-two punch that Lakers fans spent last season dreaming about and this season salivating over.

Yet Game 2, just like L.A.’s Game 1 blowout win before it, featured important doses of two unheralded veterans who have resuscitated their careers during this playoff run in the NBA bubble: Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard.

Rondo, a mercurial guard who has played for six teams in the past six seasons, emerged as a key piece during a second-round series win over the Houston Rockets. Instead of the spotty effort he has often put forth in recent years, the 34-year-old has turned back the clock with high-impact play reminiscent of his days with the Boston Celtics. Instead of the corrosive mentality that led him to leave the Dallas Mavericks during the middle of the 2015 playoffs, Rondo has become a trusted leader empowered to run the offense at times and take on key backcourt defensive assignments.

Although the Lakers entered the playoffs facing questions about depth, they outscored the Nuggets by 13 points with Rondo on the court in Game 1 and by six points in Game 2. On Sunday, Rondo took just three shots and scored just three points, but he had nine assists and set up Davis’s remarkable game-winner. Afterward, he explained how he had cycled through three other options on the play before finally leading Davis to his spot with a pretty bounce pass.

“I think I made eye contact with every player on my team that play,” Rondo said. “My first look was [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope] back door. That wasn’t there. [Then] Danny [Green] back door. That wasn’t there. [LeBron James] and I looked eye-to-eye, but he didn’t move. Then I saw [Davis] coming on the outside. I just tried to get it to him on time and on target. I had [Nikola Jokic] on me, so obviously I couldn’t throw a lob pass. He did the rest.”

Unlike Rondo, Howard was a non-factor in the second round, playing 16 minutes over five games against the small-ball Rockets. But the presence of Jokic, a big-bodied traditional center, has led Coach Frank Vogel to turn to Howard and fellow center JaVale McGee for defensive matchup purposes.

Howard has thrived as a pest, attempting to crowd Jokic and maintaining a conversation with the all-star center in hopes of distracting him. The exchanges have gotten chippy at times, with Howard drawing a technical foul in Game 2, but his efforts have largely proved successful in keeping Jokic off balance. After dominating the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round, Jokic struggled with foul trouble in Game 1 and made just 3 of 10 shots in the first half of Game 2.

Jokic closed strong to finish with a team-high 30 points, six rebounds and nine assists in Game 2, but Howard’s activity and physicality were helpful aspects to the Lakers’ defensive game plan. Every minute that Howard fills against Jokic helps lighten Davis’s defensive load. The Lakers were plus-14 with Howard in Game 1 and plus-10 in Game 2.

This has been a stunning turn for Howard, who was the No. 1 draft pick in 2004, a three-time defensive player of the year and a perennial all-star earlier in his career. Over the past five years, the quality of his play and his star power deteriorated rapidly as he quickly wore out his welcome with the Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards. Howard kept bouncing from city to city because he struggled to adjust to life as a role player and to the modern NBA style, which favors three-pointers over low-post play. For years, Howard seemed like a dinosaur who hadn’t figured out that he had gone extinct.

Perhaps scared straight by limited interest in his services as a free agent last summer, Howard returned to the Lakers, where a previous stint ended disastrously in 2013. Fans and media members greeted him skeptically last summer, still aware that he had clashed with Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and had fled for the Rockets after one ill-fated season. Questions about his commitment to winning and his goofy personality persisted.

Howard, now 34, fully bought into a reduced role, focusing on defense, rebounding and cheerleading from the bench. After scoring 13 points as a Game 1 X-factor, he scored three points and took one shot in Game 2. He hardly seemed to care, understanding that the Lakers have other offensive weapons and they need him to disrupt Jokic.

“Just having that type of size and that athleticism helps tremendously,” James said Friday, praising Howard’s efforts in Game 1.

James and Davis will continue to enjoy clear matchup advantages against the Nuggets, and they should find similar edges if they advance to the Finals against the Boston Celtics or Miami Heat. But as James learned long ago, superstars need plenty of help to survive and advance in the postseason. This year, he has found exactly that type of assistance from two unexpected sources.