REACHING FOR THE TOP: Lakers Were Best Team in Regular Season, but the Real Test Starts Today

Fifteen victories.

Not a mission, but a mandate.

Not a number, but a necessity.

Today the Lakers begin the quest for the 15 playoff victories that will give them the NBA championship, a trip that for any other town in any other time would be anticipated with innocent delight.

Not here, not now.

For the best team in pro basketball, playing in the most title-famished major city in America, this is a trip along a tightrope.

There is no safety net for 67 victories.

There are no consolation prizes for fans who haven’t enjoyed a major professional sports championship in 11 1/2 years.

The fun thing to write here is that the next eight weeks will bring a joyous affirmation of a civic institution and the sway it still holds over a sport and a community.

The more accurate thing to write is that anything less will be failure.

“Well put,” says Shaquille O’Neal. “You should print it just like that. And you should say that I said it.”

That’s a sign, the first sign, a good sign.

Not only do the Lakers realize their position, they are embracing it.

“Nobody would be saying anything if we couldn’t do it,” says Kobe Bryant. “We have the capability to do it. It’s up to us.”

Underneath the calm facade of a team that talks about only one victory at a time is the team that is never quite sure how it will find that victory.

The Lakers aren’t talking that way.

They know it is about 15 victories.

All. Or nothing.

Officially, that would be three victories against the Sacramento Kings in the first round beginning today at Staples Center.

Four victories against probably the San Antonio Spurs in the second round.

Four victories against probably the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference finals.

Four victories against probably the Miami Heat or Indiana Pacers in the NBA finals.

Unofficially, though, the games are about so much more, from constructing reputations to erasing nightmares.

Fifteen victories.

So much to lose.

One victory for the legacy of Phil Jackson.

While Shaq is the most valuable player of the league, Jackson is most valuable to this team.

As crazy as it sounds, a championship here would do more for his coaching reputation than the six he won in Chicago.

He would have succeeded without Michael Jordan, succeeded where two other coaches had failed, succeeded with an eminently unsuccessful mix of ego and ability.

One victory to end the legacy of the Laker fan.

The Lakers play in a town without a voice, on a home court without an advantage.

Opponents have said it for years. The coach is saying it now.

“It’s a very different arena,” Jackson said of Staples. “It’s not loud. The focus is not on the court, but on who is sitting around the court.”

Care to accept that challenge, anyone? The next eight weeks on national television might be a good time and place to do that.

One victory to forget the broom.

For five of our eight professional teams, their last playoff appearance ended with them being eliminated in a sweep.

One victory to remember the hammer.

The last time one of our professional basketball teams advanced as far as a conference championship series, the Sparks’ Leslie Leslie personified a town’s frustrations by engaging in a boxing match with the Houston Comets’ Tina Thompson . . . even if she was a former USC teammate.

One victory for Shaq as Superman.

No more questioning his commitment. No more wondering about his toughness. No more sarcastically repeating the phrase, “I’ve won everywhere but college and the pros.”

One victory for Kobe as Boy Wonder.

If he wins, that means Vince Carter doesn’t, right?

One victory to thank Jerry Buss.

Amid a blitz of criticism, he reversed his field last summer and spent the $30 million to hire Jackson. The senior sports owner in town is once again the best. He deserves one more championship.

One victory to soothe Jerry West.

Since the summer day five years ago when he brought together Kobe and Shaq, he has pronounced this a championship team while fretting--even tearfully at times--that it would never quite back him up. A title would slip him a permanent chill pill.

One victory to outrun Magic.

A championship would be the most eventful thing to happen to the Laker franchise since, yep, that November day in 1991 when Magic Johnson announced he was HIV-positive.

One victory to outfox you-know-who.

A championship would be the most eventful thing to happen in this town since, yep, that March day in 1998 when Rupert Murdoch bought the Dodgers.

One victory to show that Glen Rice was a good idea.

The bad seed has become a good soldier. He should know that it was worth it.

One victory to show that Ron Harper was a better idea.

So nice guys can not only finish first, but more than once.

One victory for the free kick.

In the closest this town has come to a pro championship in the last 11 1/2 years, the Galaxy blew a two-goal lead in the final 18 minutes of the Major League Soccer title game in 1996, losing to D.C. United in overtime, 3-2.

Oh, to finally stop bringing that up.

One victory for the lost ball.

The highlight of our last pro championship, the Dodgers’ World Series victory over the Oakland Athletics in 1988, was Kirk Gibson’s dramatic ninth-inning home run into the right field pavilion in Game 1.

Dramatic, and disappearing.

To this day, neither Gibson nor the Dodgers have any idea who has the ball.

One victory just for the shiver of it.

The framed photo sits in the press room of the Lakers’ new practice facility in El Segundo. It is of a young player standing next to a shiny trophy in front of an old building.

It takes a closer to look to realize the player is Magic Johnson, the trophy is for the NBA championship, and the building is City Hall.

Check out Johnson’s T-shirt and you realize, it was the summer of 1988, the last time the Lakers had such occasion to celebrate.

Were you there that summer?

Wouldn’t you like to go there again?

It’s time.

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Playoff Record by Rounds

The Lakers’ record in each playoff round over the last 20 seasons. The Lakers have been to the NBA finals nine times in the last 20 seasons, winning five:

OVERALL

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Round W-L Pct. One 78-46 .629 Two 89-58 .605 Three 37-19 .661 NBA finals 46-60 .434 Totals 250-183 .577

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LAST 20 SEASONS

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Round W-L Pct. One 41-16 .719 Two 48-28 .615 Three 37-19 .661 NBA finals 24-27 .471 Totals 150-90 .625

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LAKERS vs. SACRAMENTO: Game 1: 2:30 p.m. today at Staples Center, Channel 4

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.