COURTSIDE.

Byline: Anthony L. Cuaycong

I hate to say it, but the Lakers are rolling, and appear to be smothering the opposition. It's not that they're good; it's a given since, hey, they're the defending titleholders. It's that they're great; they just finished a brutal five-game stretch on the road, and they wound up winning four outings and cementing their place atop the National Basketball Association. And while it's no surprise that they've been marching to Kobe Bryant's tune, the wonder is his capacity to lead even with a broken finger in his shooting hand.

Interestingly, the popular TrueHoop blog has brought forth the notion that Bryant is far from efficient as a …