Good times keep rolling in Laker-land

LOS ANGELES -- So what happens if the Los Angeles Lakers ever lose a game?

Does the bubble burst, and this purple-and-gold fantasy end, and doubt start to creep in?

And just what kind of question is that, because the Lakers and their adoring legions still don't have to contemplate such negativity.

Not yet, anyway.

The gritty Utah Jazz took another crack at stopping the Lakers' magical spring run Wednesday night but got no further than making 18,997 people in Staples Center nervous in the fourth quarter.

In the end, this one read like all the others over the past four weeks -- one more Lakers victory. All remains well in the kingdom.

The rekindled romance between the Southland natives and the Lakers continued before the game with the Kobe Bryant MVP award ceremony.

NBA commissioner David Stern showed up in raucous Staples Center to hand over the hardware and blow his own kisses.

"I'm very happy for Kobe," said Stern, in a brief informal meeting with reporters. "It's a nice award."

Nice award? Can you do better than that? Sure!

Stern said it was "always rewarding when players realize what their performances mean to others," and he credited Bryant with such a sensitive transformation this season.

What's next? A Nobel Peace Prize?

Well, no, but Coach Phil Jackson implied the basketball equivalent when he compared Kobe favorably with his all-time icon, Michael Jordan.

The wise, old coach with the nine championships (and counting, right Staples?) said Bryant had worked harder for his trophy than Jordan had in his comeback year.

"When (Jordan) came back from that ... baseball diversion," said Jackson, "he had a lot of work to do to recapture two years of absence from basketball. But maybe not as hard as Kobe worked this year."

Hey, that's the way it is right now. Bryant is reaching Jordan-esque levels, and the Lakers are hot, hot, hot.

When you're on a roll, go with it. Bryant, who only wants to encourage the giddy mood that has swept L.A., took the microphone, said, "I love you guys," and suggested, "Let's get this party started."

Actually, the party has been going on for months. This whole thing feels like a sugary cross between a Disney movie, a 1960s-style love-in and a Christmas carol.

In Laker-land, everyone loves everyone now.

The Lakers went out and scored on their first gazillion possessions, building a double-digit lead before you could say, "Yes, there is a tooth fairy," and letting Utah know that it wasn't about to ruin all this fun.

When the Jazz closed within five points midway through the fourth quarter, the Lakers didn't even need their MVP to salt the game away.

Pick a name. Any name.

How about Sasha Vujacic? Fine. Jump shot. How about Derek Fisher? Fine. Three-pointer. And there goes the lead back up to 10. Say, goodnight, Utah.

For the moment, the Lakers' mystique feels impenetrable.

"So far, so wonderful," said Pau Gasol after the 120-110 win. "We just have to keep it going. We can't enjoy it or celebrate it too much."

He's speaking for the players only.

The euphoria of the big finish of the regular season, the (so far) perfect postseason and Bryant's MVP is a spreading contagion, reaching pockets of the media, as well.

The Lakers legend of 2008 grows in front of our eyes. Someone asked Utah coach Jerry Sloan before the game if these Lakers -- with Gasol in the middle -- reminded him of the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe era, when the Lakers had strength inside and out.

Sloan, bless his heart, smiled and dialed it all back a little bit.

"Remember, Shaq was a big man," he said, before praising beanpole-body Gasol for his ability to pass. "Pau is a wonderful player, but he's not as strong inside."

Good point. Not to mention that Shaq was an MVP, too, and a guy who led the Lakers to three championships, and helped Miami to another.

But what the heck? It's good times. The Lakers are on to something huge, and don't spoil the natural high too much.

The Lakers lead two games to none. And as long as it's all good news, all the time around here, this is the time to point out that when home teams win the first two games of a seven-game set in the NBA postseason, they go on to take the series 94.4 percent of the time.

But the way things are going in Laker-land, loyalists will assume that translates to 100 percent of the time.

It's been so long since anything went wrong, losing seems inconceivable.

(Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)