Whicker: Forget the asterisks in a Lakers title run that had its own punctuation

It began 11 days short of a year ago, when it was Opening Night, and the reconfigured Lakers lost to the reconfigured Clippers.
Remember the assumptions that took hold.
The Lakers were a couple of jigsaw pieces short. They had a new, fluid coaching staff, with Jason Kidd looming as a Plan B if Frank Vogel’s first months were shaky. They had two supreme players, but LeBron James was entering his 17th season and Anthony Davis’ connective tissue had failed him before. Kyle Kuzma would b