CHICAGO -- Los Angeles has always been a basketball heaven. And even with the Clippers' resurgence. The Lakers remain what F. Scott Fitzgerald titled in his first novel, This Side of Paradise.
The word "wonder" rapidly emerges when talking about the purple-and-gold franchise.
Titles. Tradition. Tinseltown.
But when talking about the current Lakers, you "wonder" about them both as a noun and a verb.
Their 23-3 is a source of wonder. You also wonder if they can sustain this pace and if the brilliant plays of their two mega stars can continue to hide the rest of the team's shortcomings.
After extending their win-streak to six games following a narrow 113-110 victory over the Miami Heat today, the Lakers' offensive rating (112.5) now ranks fifth among 30 teams while their defensive rating (103.1) is third overall.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis are the best duo since Simon and Garfunkel, averaging a combined 53.3 points, 16.6 rebounds, 14.1 assists and 3.1 blocks per game.
The Lakers have won 13 of 14 away from Staples Center, a crazy-rich 92.8 percent clip on hostile arenas.
Still, the Lake Show is far from being a well-rounded team.
A.D. and LeBron shoot a combined 40 field goals a game, nearly half of the team's 88.4 attempts. Minus the democracy that equally great teams such as the Clippers and the 23-3 Milwaukee Bucks have, the Lakers attack can get so glaringly predictable.
Easier said than done, but when defenses can somehow clamp down on James and Davis through either soft zones or hard double-teams , the Lakers offense can conk out in a way a thick banana does to a tail pipe.
The Lakers are just eighth in the league in points scored per game at 113.7 and that's because the next highest scorer in the team after their two stars is Kyle Kuzma at 11.1 per.
In contrast, the Clippers, with their deeper bench, have four guys averaging double figures in points. And while their record is a more modest 20-7 (3.5 games behind the Lakers), the Clippers have already scored 150 twice this season, once with 140 and two times with at least 130.
But the Lakers' greatest worries, the ones that keep the coaching staff awake at night, orbit around the following questions.
Can LeBron, who turns 35 at the end of this month and has played all 26 games thus far, continue to carry a punishing 34.6 minutes a contest?
Can Davis, who has a history of injuries and is also logging 34.6 minutes per, stay healthy with 56 more games to go in the schedule?
COMMENTS SECTION. Balt Chavez used to be a SPIN.ph contributor who has covered MMA in Singapore, boxing and the Summer League in Las Vegas, as well as NBA Games in China and Africa.
Busy with trying to get his MBA at Ateneo, Balt has since quit.
But he hasn't stopped traveling the world, chasing after the love of his life, Rechelle, a Qatar Airways worker who also spans the globe.
Dutifully, Balt still reads SPIN.ph and he e-mailed me recently from exotic Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
"Nyor, the comments section is full or rude and irreverent takes," he warned.
Given the Lakers' rabid following, I can already sense an irate fan base ready to abuse and attack.
I have no such worries, though. I care about those ill-mannered "commenters" the same way I care about the junk I expel in the toilet.
When I started in the newspaper business in 1993, reporters have to progress significantly before earning a right to have an opinion via a column. I've done that.
These days, everyone has an opinion, a platform. All they need is a cellphone, a set of serviceable fingers and the ability to pretend they know what the hell they are talking about.
But I don't read the comments section because I refuse to visit a marketplace where common sense is being murdered with bad grammar, faulty spelling and wicked logic.
Of course, I respect the educated, polite readers' opinions. But sorry, I just don't listen to those whose wisdom I do not seek.
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