EASY DOES IT FOR THE LAKERS.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Don't you just hate the Lakers?

(Of course not!)

Well, see, you love them because you live in Los Angeles. If you lived in any of 27 other NBA cities, imagine how you'd loathe these guys. Really, the hostility from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban might turn out to be the tip of a league-wide iceberg.

It says here that with each passing day, the Lakers become a little more detestable. And that this is good news for them, because when a team becomes the object of nationwide hatred, it's a surer sign than any statistic that the team has achieved the stature of dynasty.

Let's pretend we're out-of-towners and take a squinty-eyed look at these Lakers.

After their 98-94 victory over Dallas at Staples Center on Wednesday night, they're 16-1.

Meanwhile, the Lakers keep ``confessing'' that they're not playing as well as they should be, implying that they think they're even better than their record. (How much better do they need to be? They've lostone game.)

They're winning their games by an average of 11 points.

Meanwhile, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant keep drawing technical fouls and fines for complaining about the officiating. (Whatta they want, everything to go their way?)

They're on pace to break the NBA record for victories in a season.

Meanwhile, coach Phil Jackson is babying tender-footed Derek Fisher and bad-kneed Mitch Richmond, playing the two guards for fewer minutes than they probably deserve, explaining that he wants to preserve them for the late season and the playoffs. (Jackson is like a baseball manager, confident of making the playoffs, beginning to line up his October pitching rotation - in May.)

They're beating a downhill path to a third consecutive championship.

Meanwhile, the Lakers front office keeps a miser's eye on the bottom line in the salaries column, pinching pennies to avoid paying the NBA's luxury tax. (They're winning and they're making money, too. Where's the spirit of sacrifice?)

Jealousy isn't the word for the emotion the Lakers must inspire in the fans of their opponents.

Given the image the Lakers have cultivated, the story of the first half of the first half of their three-peat campaign should be called,``How to Succeed in Basketball Without Really Trying.''

Jackson is quoted comparing his Lakers to his old Chicago Bulls this way: ``They don't practice as hard as the Bulls did, and they don't have the same attention span that the Bulls did either.'' As for pursuing the wins record, Jackson said the Lakers ``may not be as driven.''

``We're playing well in spurts,'' Bryant said back when the Lakers were 10-1. ``We're still not able to put together a full 48 minutes. There's so much room for improvement.''

It's like listening to the neighbor's brat play flawless Chopin on the piano, and having the proud mother say, ``Imagine how good he'd be if he took lessons!''

Wednesday night, the Lakers had another one of those games in which they're out of whack on offense, they're full of holes on defense, when Bryant is in no form to bail them out - and they win anyway.

People wonder when a juggernaut turns into a dynasty. After three championships? Four? Six?

The answer is not a number.

It's when jealousy turns into resentment, frustration into dread and anger into hatred.

The way they're winning and the way they're talking, the Lakers are doing their best to make it happen.

It always used to work for the Yankees.