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Ty Lawson, meet Ty Lawson

Ty Lawson is finally becoming the player the team traded for in the offseason.

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier in the season, Ty Lawson mentioned that he had to watch old highlights of himself as a reminder of the player he once was. The Lawson of yesteryear was great, aggressive, and a scoring playmaker. The Lawson of the Rockets? A guy who is not aggressive and not able to get going.

After Kevin McHale was fired, one of the first changes J.B. Bickerstaff made was to move Lawson to the bench so he could find himself.

While it may have taken a little bit of time, lately Lawson has started to show snippets of becoming the player that the Rockets traded for.

"I think I've been playing a little bit better since the Detroit game," Lawson said.

Since the second half of the Piston's game, Lawson has scored 21 points on 7-11 shooting and also assisting 9 shots. Lawson has been more aggressive scoring and setting people up.

The awakening of Lawson could be due to James Harden. After the Rockets 108-101 win over the Pelicans, head coach J.B Bickerstaff mentioned that Harden and Lawson have been talking a lot lately.

"I just keep preaching to him to be aggressive," James Harden said of he and Lawson's talks. "If he's being aggressive, making shots and making plays, our team is better."

For Lawson, the biggest key to his turnaround has been just getting out of his own head.

"Just going out there and playing, not thinking about what offense to run, what sets to run, just playing off instincts," Lawson said.

What the Rockets wanted in the offseason- another playmaker and ballhandler to take the pressure off Harden- they are slowly starting to get with Lawson. While it has taken nearly 20 games, the two are developing a chemistry on the court. Lawson says he and Harden have picked out a handful of plays that they are now running that work.

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