The proper question isn't "Will the Lakers win 72 games?" There are too many variables to give an accurate answer. We can't predict injuries, flight delays or mood swings. What we can assess is whether the Lakers have what it takes to win 72 games. For that, we turn to the coach of these Lakers, who also happens to be the only man to coach an NBA team to a 72-win season.

"Not the same defense, unfortunately," Phil Jackson said in comparing this team to the 1995-96 Bulls. "We have a lot of offensive prowess."

Enough prowess to lead the league in scoring, an average that was enhanced by Sunday night's 121-96 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. The Lakers are also in the top 10 in shooting percentage, 3-point shooting percentage and assists.

But they're in the middle of the league when it comes to points allowed. It's partly a function of their reserves logging so many inconsequential minutes marked by turnovers and easy baskets for the opponents. The sloppy stretches haven't cost the Lakers a game or even forced Kobe Bryant to take the ice bags off his knees and return to the fray, but they do affect the stats.

So far, the team's identity has been its offensive efficiency. You can see the cohesiveness almost every time down the court, the products of invaluable minutes logged everywhere from practice to Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Bryant and Derek Fisher are in their 12th season together. Lamar Odom and Bryant are in their seventh as teammates. And Pau Gasol fit in immediately when he arrived almost three years ago.

Here's the thing: The Lakers don't have to be as good a defensive team as the 1995-96 Bulls (who allowed 93 points per game) because defense isn't as important a part of the league right now. Among the rule changes and emphasizes since then, the NBA has disallowed the use of the forearm to defend players facing the basket and has prohibited defenders in the low post from using both their hands and their forearms simultaneously against a player. The offensive stats have been trending upward for the past 15 years, and so far this season, scoring and possessions per game are on track to be their highest since the mid-1990s.

We know that seven teams have tried but none has beaten the Lakers so far, giving them the fifth 7-0 start in franchise history. And if the Lakers lack the abundance of No. 1 overall picks and surefire Hall of Famers as the 1980s incarnations, if they're not quite as awe-inspiring -- they don't have to be. They don't face an abundance of competition in the current Western Conference. And they don't have any fundamental flaws. They have a little of everything and will get even taller and tougher to score inside against when Andrew Bynum returns, perhaps at the end of the month.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's remember that the Lakers have won five of their seven at home, and last season's team used an even friendlier schedule to start 23-4 before settling for a good-but-not-memorable 57-win season. The worst is yet to come.

But the Lakers do have the components Bryant seeks in a great team.

"Intelligence, toughness and unselfishness," Bryant said. "We have all three. Everybody can make plays. Normally we have one or two guys who are playmakers. Here, everyone can make plays."

Yes, when they have a center who can produce a triple-double (as Gasol did with 20 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists Sunday) and a power forward in Odom who can bring the ball up the court when he's not scoring 21 points and grabbing 12 rebounds himself, a backup guard who's worked on his jumper so much that Jackson said he's "enamored" with his shooting (Shannon Brown made half his shots and half his 3-pointers for 15 points), the Lakers can beat the toughest opponent they've faced to date even on a night Bryant scores only 12 points, they can claim an abundance of playmakers.

That doesn't even include Steve Blake, whom Jackson credited with providing some extra intel about his former team, or Matt Barnes. Or even Ron Artest's defense on All-Star Brandon Roy, who made only one field goal on six shots Sunday night. Speaking of All-Stars, Portland coach Nate McMillan said Odom is "an All-Star. His numbers and what he's doing for that team, shooting the ball, rebounding, handling the ball -- he's playing great basketball for them."

Odom is averaging 16 points and 11 rebounds and is shooting better than 60 percent from the field and almost 70 percent on 3-point shots. But he isn't caught up in the numbers, and he figures they'll diminish once Bynum comes back and Odom returns to his sixth-man role.

He recognizes that he's part of a team, one that's clicking as well as any team around.

"The playoff experience, playing in big games, helps your confidence and our cohesiveness. Everything that we do is pretty tight," Odom said. "We know how to get stops, how to cover for each other. Right now we've got a team, a group of guys that play together and are really comfortable."

I can't see 72 wins just yet. But there's a 7-0 next to the Lakers' name in the standings, and the evidence of something great formulating is starting to outweigh the skepticism.

Dimes past: Oct. 27 | 28 | 29 | Nov. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Elias Sports Bureau

For the third time in seven games, the Timberwolves lost by at least 25 points, this time 120-94 at Houston. In the past 20 seasons, only two other teams have suffered three 25-point losses in their first seven games: the Bulls in 2003 and the SuperSonics in 2005. New York also scored 120 or more points against the Bulls three times during the 1988-89 regular season.

• Elton Brand led the 76ers with 20 points in their 106-96 win at Madison Square Garden. Brand averaged more than 20 points per game in five of his first eight seasons, but his current streak of four straight games with at least 20 points is his longest since then. (His last such streak was in April 2007.)

• John Wall, who had 10 assists in Washington's loss to Cleveland on Saturday night, has handed out at least seven assists in each of the five games he has played in the NBA. Oscar Robertson is the only other player in NBA history to record at least seven assists in each of his first five career NBA games. "The Big O" did it in each of his first 10 games in the NBA in 1960-61.

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