The Lakers are the best thing to happen to the Dodgers this spring.

The playoffs dash by Kobe & Co. has deflected attention from what is increasingly looking like a Big Blue Face Plant.

So, that $118.5-million roster Ned Colletti assembled? Essentially the fifth-most expensive roster in the bigs?

It has bought the Dodgers 28 victories in their first 60 games. And only three victories in their last 14 games.

A few notes about what looks like a bad (at best, middling) team:

–No team in the major leagues has fewer extra-base hits than do the Dodgers, 148. So even though their team batting average is a respectable .264 (four points above the MLB average), the Dodgers are trying to score runs with singles, and that’s a hard way to go.

–Only two MLB teams (Kansas City, 33; Minnesota, 35) have fewer homers than the Dodgers’ 41.

–Still, the Dodgers are underachievers. They have scored more runs (262) than they have allowed (254) but are four games under .500. That generally means they are choking away close games.

–If the Dodgers played in any division except the execrable National League West, they would be well on their way to being buried. They would trail by 5.5 in the AL Central, 7.0 in the NL East, 8.5 in the AL West, 8.5 in the AL East and 10.5 in the NL Central. Thanks to Arizona’s swoon, and the general sucky-ness of the Rockies, Giants and Padres, the Dodgers are second in the NL West and “only” four games back of the Diamondbacks.

And the big issue, the elephant in the room, is this: Ned Colletti’s big-money signings in his two-year Reign of Error range from awful (Juan Pierre, Hiroki Kuroda) to disastrous (Andruw Jones, Jason Schmidt, Nomar Garciaparra).

Those five guys are among the nine highest-paid players on the club, and account for nearly half (about $55 million) of the entire payroll. (Which can be seen here.)

And every one of them was a questionable signing even when they happened. It’s not as if Colletti signed Alex Rodriguez and then he went bad, shocking us all.

We also can look into the concept of committing $13 million (over three years) to sign manager Joe Torre, who clearly is a nice guy — but isn’t allowed to pitch, hit or play defense.

Anyway, Dodgers, consider yourself lucky. We’ll be turning our attention to you eventually … but not just yet. Maybe you should root for a seven-game Lakers-Celtics series.