Planting a seed of doubt in Lakers’ fans brains

Kobe Bryant and the Lakers have played so well since the All-Star break, they’ve given fans little to fret about. …

How about this: Are the Lakers peaking too soon? …

Unfortunately for Elgin Baylor, his age-discrimination case against Donald Sterling and the Clippers sounds flimsier than his record as the club’s longtime general manager.…

The Lakers look hungry -- and that could be bad news for rivals

Before suffering an ankle injury this week, Tim Duncan sat out a recent game and was listed on the injury report as “trop vieux” — French for “too old.” …

Might he sue? …

Others may be more viable NBA prospects, but no player left in the NCAA tournament is more intriguing than Jimmer Fredette.…

Derrick Williams, a former La Mirada High star who has led Arizona to the West Regional semifinals at Honda Center, would be a perfect fit for the Anaheim Royals of Southern California, the Orange County Royals or whatever it is the relocated Sacramento Kings ultimately decide to call themselves.…

La Mirada borders Los Angeles and Orange counties. …

A sportswriter’s sentencing this week in Massachusetts for running a prostitution ring reminded USA Today’s Reid Cherner of the time that journalist and author John Feinstein claimed Bob Knight had called him a pimp and a whore. …

Cracked Feinstein, author of “A Season on the Brink”: “I wish he’d make up his mind so I’d know what to wear.” …

Lawrence Taylor, let’s hope, will be the last Pro Football Hall of Famer forced to register as a sex offender.…

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, after a head-scratching finish in the NCAA tournament last weekend: “Bob Knight always says, ‘Dumb loses more games than smart wins.’ Well, the ending of the Pitt-Butler game was Exhibit A in that.” …

If Tyler Honeycutt and others can resist the NBA’s lure, UCLA should be strong enough next season to overcome the disadvantage of being a vagabond team without a true home.…

After Tim Lincecum revealed last week that his usual In-N-Out order was three double-doubles, two orders of fries and a chocolate-strawberry shake, San Francisco Giants fans reportedly lined up to see if they could match his gluttony. …

One suggested that the order be dubbed the No. 55.…

Odd-numbered years have been good to Alex Rodriguez, who was the American League’s most valuable player in 2003, ’05 and ‘07, won a World Series championship with the New York Yankees in ’09 and has scalded the ball this spring.…

Not since 2000-01 have the Angels missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons under Mike Scioscia.…

So tightly packed is the playoff race in the NHL’s Western Conference that an injury such as the one sidelining the Kings’ Justin Williams could be devastating.…

The NFL this week adopted a rule that had always seemed black and white until Boise State came along, prohibiting teams from painting their fields any color other than green.…

Call it the No Fuchsia League.…

A list of the top 10 teams in college basketball history, selected by a Sporting News panel of experts and topped by UCLA’s 1966-67 team, includes one that didn’t win the NCAA title: the 1990-91 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels of Jerry Tarkanian, Larry Johnson, et al. …

They were unbeaten until losing to Duke in the semifinals….

Fifty-five years ago Thursday, former Verdugo Hills High and Glendale College forward Carl Boldt scored 16 points as the University of San Francisco defeated Iowa to win its second consecutive NCAA title.…

Bill Russell also played a key role for the unbeaten Dons, scoring 26 points and grabbing 27 rebounds.…

Frank “Home Run” Baker earned his nickname, reader Patrick Mallon of San Luis Obispo e-mails to note, because he led the American League in home runs four years in a row early last century and was “by far the most prodigious long-ball hitter of his era until Babe Ruth … basically reinvented the game.” …

For what it’s worth: Baker homered once every 69 plate appearances, Don Drysdale once every 45.…

Oh to be a fly on the wall Thursday when a virtual who’s-who of the sporting world — Edwin Moses, Marcus Allen, Monica Seles, Nadia Comaneci, Tony Hawk, Mark Spitz and Michael Johnson — gathers in Santa Monica for a fundraising dinner benefiting the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. …

Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert: “Barry Bonds’ perjury trial started [this week], or as Barry Bonds puts it, ‘No, it didn’t.’ ”

jerome.crowe@latimes.com