Win Streak Has Team Believing

The Lakers are off to their best start since 1987-88--the last time they won an NBA title.

“I believe in deja vu,” Shaquille O’Neal said.

A bold comment, but just one of the many the Lakers have made with this 7-0 record. They have shown late-game composure, poise on the road, and depth. They have beaten the Utah Jazz--granted, minus John Stockton, but the Seattle SuperSonics now know that doesn’t translate to a free pass--the New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets. The last two came on the road, in overtime, on consecutive nights.

That’s how a team that was expected to do well can do well and still make an early statement.

“Teams around the league, their eyes are opening now,” Nick Van Exel said. “They’re wondering what’s going to happen when they see us.”

Wondering if they’ll get caught under the wheels too. Or, wondering if there’s still reason not to believe the Lakers can pull this maturity thing off for eight months.

“If they don’t [believe],” Van Exel said, “that’ll be trouble for them. We came to play this year, night in and night out. That’s the big difference with our team now. We’re not going to take any team lightly.”

Said O’Neal: “If people want to take [the start] as a statement, they can. If not, that’s fine.”

*

And on the sixth day, he rested.

Of course, this came after Eddie Jones played a career-high 53 minutes Thursday at San Antonio and 48 the next night at Houston, the equivalent of more than two full games within 24 hours, so whether he was able to do anything but sleep with his Saturday off was another matter.

The performance against the Spurs was especially impressive because he didn’t come out once in the overtime victory, duplicating his own feat from Nov. 24, 1996, as the last Laker to play an entire game. The last time, though, was a walk in the park, a mere 48 minutes.

“A couple times when we really started running, I got a little exhausted,” Jones said of what became a 26-point, seven-assist, three-steal showing in the Alamodome. “I told Nick one time to take the play away from me so I could get a little rest on the offensive end. I’d rather get my rest on the offensive end than the defensive end.”

Then came Friday, and double-overtime. Just what he needed.

TONIGHT

vs.

Vancouver

* 6:30

* Fox Sports

West

Site--Forum.

Radio--KLAC (570), KWKW (1330).

Records--Lakers 7-0, Grizzlies 4-5.

Record vs. Grizzlies (1996-97)--4-0.

Update--The Lakers, along with the Atlanta Hawks the only undefeated teams in the league, can equal the best start in team history with a victory tonight, matching the 1987-88 club. The chance comes not only against a sub-.500 team, but one on the second night of a back-to-back. Kobe Bryant, having gone through an informal workout Saturday, is probable after sitting out the last three games because of a sprained ankle.