Are these Lakers still those Lakers?

There once was a professional basketball team that was known for being arrogant, heartless and just plain dumb.

They won a playoff game by 14 points against a team without its two best players -- then lost the next game to this same team by a dozen.

They won another playoff game against an outmanned, overmatched team by 40 points -- then lost the next game to this same team by five.

In those two losses, their starting center scored zero points, their starting point guard allowed a gazillion points, and their coach seemingly never lifted a finger to help any of them.

One of their owners called them “embarrassing.” A television announcer openly rooted against them.

They were unapologetic, unashamed and completely unlikable.

They were the Lakers.

Three weeks ago.

“Man, that seems like it was a different season,” Pau Gasol said.

Well, it wasn’t, and I’ve got the nasty e-mail to prove it, even the most die-hard Lakers lovers throwing up their hands over the team’s lack of conscience and killer instinct.

What a difference a gear makes.

Those hands are now clapping. The sports world is now swooning. Loathing has turned to love, and anger has become awe.

After walloping the Orlando Magic in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, the Lakers are just three seemingly inevitable wins from the championship, their final brilliant sprint continuing tonight in Game 2 at Staples Center.

We think.

I am going to miss the game to attend my son Willie’s high school graduation, but it will also be a night to see if the Lakers have learned anything.

While the entire sports world -- including this little corner -- feels they will finish off the Magic within a week, the Lakers still have to manage this one last little hurdle.

Themselves.

Have they learned to keep their foot, and focus, on the gas? Do they understand that the mark of a champion is not found in their locker room mirror, but on their opponents’ neck? Do they understand how the math works in 100%?

Orlando is as down as any NBA team has been down after one game in recent Finals history.

Do the Lakers have the pride and perspective to play hard enough to keep them down?

“I think we do now,” Gasol said. “I think we’ve learned our lesson.”

Gasol is always so unerringly pleasant and polite, it’s impossible to ever be angry with him, but upon hearing that comment, I sort of wanted to scream.

What lesson about winning could the best basketball team in the world possibly need to learn?

“At times, we really thought that we were good enough to just show up,” he said. “Houston proved us wrong.”

What is to prevent that same attitude from slipping inside their weary bodies again? How do we know that Kobe Bryant isn’t the only one wailing and gnashing?

“We are so close to something so special, our entire focus has changed,” Gasol said. “There is no more time to relax.”

Seeing how hard they played in the final two games of the series against Denver, I can buy that. Tonight we’ll learn whether Gasol and his teammates are also truly buying it.

Because tonight, I’m guessing, the Magic’s Dwight Howard is not missing all four of his layups.

Tonight, Rashard Lewis is not going to miss all six shots inside the three-point line.

Tonight, Hedo Turkoglu is going to make at least one basket in the second half.

The Magic may not be in a class with the Denver Nuggets but, goodness, they’re not nearly as bad as they played in Game 1, are they?

“We know we’ll be seeing a different team,” Lamar Odom said. “We know what they can do. We know what we have to do.”

Do they? That’s the important thing here. Even when the Magic players are playing their best, they’re not the issue -- they’re just not good enough or deep enough to be the issue.

This series is all about the Lakers and themselves, their understanding of their potential and their ability to reach it.

“I think this postseason has been about us learning about ourselves and not really so much about who we’re playing against,” said Derek Fisher, later adding, “If you’re operating at your best, the way our team is constructed, the opponent is irrelevant.”

How true that statement will be tonight, which is not yet about winning a championship, but about behaving like champions.

Maybe it will help if, during the game, the Lakers look at the courtside seats under the basket closest to their bench.

During the Denver series, one of those seats was occupied by a dude who served as a bejeweled reminder that, despite swaggering ever closer to greatness, the Lakers still have one sneaker wet from the gutter.

I hope Ron Artest shows up again.

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bill.plaschke@latimes.com

You can follow Bill Plaschke on Twitter at twitter.com/billplaschke.