No matter how it looks, Bruins find a way to win

PALO ALTO -- Think about those consecutive Final Fours too long, and you forget that dominance isn’t UCLA’s thing.

The fall was full of Youngstown State, Yale, Idaho State and UC Davis.

The Pacific 10 is going to be a grind, and it started Thursday with a 76-67 UCLA victory over Stanford at Maples Pavilion that was a classic UCLA-might-be-in-trouble-now-UCLA-leads-by-10 game.

It’s the Bruin way.

There are going to be times when UCLA doesn’t look as if it has the better collection of players on the court. It happened against Stanford when the Cardinal guards kept slipping into the lane and stopping and popping shots, and at moments when the 7-foot Lopez twins flashed their potential.

Then you found yourself trying to figure out how UCLA pulled away.

“The last 10 minutes is a blur right now,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said.

The formula changes, but that’s the beauty of it.

This time, the Bruins shot 56% from three-point range, and Josh Shipp made five of eight from long range, scoring 21 points.

“I don’t think we’re a three-point shooting team, really,” Shipp said.

But he’ll take it.

This time, Russell Westbrook began the game on the bench and Alfred Aboya started, a move made by Howland to keep from wearing down his four key perimeter players all at once.

Instead of pouting, Westbrook had 15 points, six assists and made six of seven shots. The 6-3 guard’s putback after he darted under the basket for an offensive rebound gave UCLA a four-point lead and helped spark the decisive spurt for the Bruins.

“I’m fine with it, as long as we win,” Westbrook said.

The next possession, he fell with the ball but still made a pass to Shipp, who got the ball to Kevin Love, who was fouled and made two free throws.

Shipp had a three-pointer and a layup in the same stretch, and UCLA led, 61-51, with 6:21 left.

The Bruins’ defense was deceiving, partly because what you noticed was Mitch Johnson and Anthony Goods getting into the lane, not so much Brook and Robin Lopez not doing much.

“We were so conscious of pressuring them early that we gave up some drives,” Howland said, saying some teams back off the guards and give them time and space to lob the ball in to the Lopez brothers.

Love, getting his first real dose of big man’s school, earned his grade from Howland, who called it Love’s best defensive game of the year.

“None of us in this room can understand how big and strong and physical it is in there,” Howland said. “It was a war.”

It was only the first one, but the Bruins are 1-0 in the Pac-10.

“It’s going to be really hard for anybody to steal a road win in this league,” Howland said, already thinking about the California game on Saturday. “We’re right back at it in 48 hours,”

UCLA won the Pac-10 title last season, losing three times, at Oregon, Stanford and Washington.

Shipp, for one, had last season’s loss on his mind.

“Josh had a look in his eyes I’d never seen before, he was so ready,” Howland said. “He had a special gleam.”

So did Aboya, you have to think. He made a three-pointer that had half the team saying, “No, no, no, yes!”

Stanford Coach Trent Johnson had pretty much the same reaction.

“Aboya stepped up and made a three,” he said. “They made some shots they hadn’t been making.”

UCLA did the unexpected, with the expected result. They won when there was an easy way not to.

But the easy season is over.

“They know that from experience,” Howland said. “The majority of our kids did this last year. They get it. They know the Pac-10 is the best league in the country, bar none.”

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robyn.norwood@latimes.com