The Lakers improved to 27-5 and have the rest of the NBA chasing them for the best record.

By J.A. Adande (ESPN.com)

LOS ANGELES — The Lakers have a growing list of injured players. They have concerns that their young big man hasn’t recaptured the form that made him so promising a season ago. They have lapses when they forget what it takes to be effective. They also have the best record in the NBA.

And so, almost accidentally, the Lakers (27-5) claimed the top spot by beating Portland 100-86 on Sunday night after the Celtics (29-6) lost at New York and the Cavaliers (27-6) lost at Washington. Avoiding those losses to the bad teams is one of the ways the Lakers got here. They’re 11-2 against sub-.500 teams. (The losses came at Indiana and Sacramento.) They’re also 18-1 at home. So that’s the basic part of the formula: win at home, beat the bad teams.

What makes the Lakers look championship-worthy is when they remember to play defense. They did so in the third quarter Sunday, a 12-minute stretch during which they forced five turnovers, held Portland to 16 points on 36 percent shooting and turned a one-point halftime lead into a 15-point advantage. Those types of quarters and games are there for them whenever they want. The greatest challenge during the course of this schedule-friendly month that features 11 games in the Staples Center and only one trip out of state (a back-to-back set in Houston and San Antonio next week) could be staying focused on basketball.

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