Competition Is Impressed

The Lakers remain fairly unimpressed by their 15-1 re-entry, wary that not yet one-fifth of the season has been played, cooled by the fact that November saw only a few remotely entertaining foes.

It is possible, however, that while their record holds little enchantment for the Lakers, it is convincing enough for others.

In the last week alone, the Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics and Minnesota Timberwolves seemed quite willing to believe in Laker superiority, particularly when the Lakers made strong early third-quarter advances. The three were outscored by 28 points in those third quarters, and by 55 points in the second halves, and the Lakers won by 19, 15 and 26 points.

On Saturday, the Timberwolves arrived at halftime tied, only to score 30 points in the second half when the Lakers pressed their depth and defense.

“I know we didn’t play the way we usually play, we were back on our heels a little bit,” Minnesota guard Anthony Peeler said. “We weren’t taking the ball to the hole and playing as hard as we could have played. We were out there really trying to get a feel for ourselves and by the time we [did], it was too late.”

Unlike the past two seasons, when conflict eventually gave way to championships, the Lakers are emotionally unclouded, and therefore more technically trusting. The Timberwolves took only eight free throws, and hardly complained about it, while the Lakers maintained their aggressiveness.

“We keep looking back to last year’s start,” forward Rick Fox said, “and we have to be pretty satisfied that we’ve learned a little bit about defending a championship and coming prepared to start the season off in the right fashion.”

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In his quest for triangle enlightenment, Samaki Walker acquired and studied film of Horace Grant’s finest moments as a Laker, a course he believes led to his best game, Tuesday against Milwaukee, followed by sturdy games against Seattle and Minnesota.

“I needed to know what he was able to do, what made him successful in this offense,” Walker said. “It really helped me out [against the Bucks].”

Walker has had his moments. He scored well in games against the Houston Rockets and Clippers, when he went to Grant’s familiar elbow of the lane for open shots. Against the Bucks, he defended the burly Anthony Mason with some tenacity, had 11 rebounds and scored six points in 27 minutes.

It was a line that could have been Grant’s.

“I thought more movement would help me, and, by golly, it worked,” Walker said.

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Devean George scored 12 points Saturday, his fifth game in double figures, and blocked four shots for the second time in six games.

Five weeks into his third season, George has become a more reliable shooter, an aggressive rebounder and, ultimately, an option at small forward Coach Phil Jackson wasn’t sure he’d have.

“Early on, things started to click, and my confidence started to grow when he started to leave me in in the fourth quarter, you know, crunch time, when the game is on the line,” George said. “If you have faith in me, then my confidence will start to build and I think that was the turning point right there.”

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The Lakers play host to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, then play at Sacramento on Friday. They’ll play only four road games in December.... The Lakers have allowed 89.9 points a game. Only once--Nov. 2 at Utah--have they allowed as many as 100 points.