Some of These Numbers Are Bordering on Magic

It’s stub-saving time. Program-framing time. Tape-making time.

Clip the morning paper. Engrave the souvenir cup. Freeze the moment.

What was once Showtime is quickly becoming the History Channel, these Lakers trying to perform a trick untried by Magic, reaching toward a sky untouched by Kareem.

The numbers were flying around Staples Center like Rick Fox’ hair Friday, what with the Lakers’ 10th consecutive playoff victory and 18th consecutive victory overall and third playoff win in three games against the San Antonio Spurs, 111-72.

Which leaves only one number that really matters, one remaining challenge for a team as certain of winning a second NBA title as Kobe Bryant is now certain he can fly.

Two numbers, really.

Fifteen and zero.

The Lakers now have a legitimate chance of becoming the first team to sweep through the playoffs without a loss.

It’s Nicholson-pumping-his-fist time.

Kobe-screaming-in-fury time.

Shaq-putting-a-towel-on-his-head-like-Kazaam time.

First thing you wondered, after watching the Lakers dismantle the Spurs from the moment Bryant made a fall-away three-pointer 24 seconds into the game, was whether these guys could beat Michael Jordan’s playoff Chicago Bulls.

So you asked someone from Jordan’s Bulls.

“I think we’re playing better than those teams in Chicago,” Horace Grant said with a smile. “Because we lost a couple of games in Chicago.”

Next thing you wondered, after watching the Lakers hold the NBA’s best three-point shooting team to one three-pointer in 12 attempts, was whether a 15-0 postseason is really possible.

So you asked someone who will not give you a cliche.

The only one.

Yeah, the guy who will not lose one strand from his increasingly frightening hair until the Lakers lose a game.

“If we do what we did tonight, if we respect Game 4, then it becomes a viable option,” Fox said of the magic numbers. “Because we’ll have home court in the championship round. And if we take care of those first two games, then maybe we’ll put a little fear in the opponent and . . . “

And you can guess the rest.

It could happen on either an ugly June night in Milwaukee, or an ugly June night in Philadelphia. It could happen, if it happens like Friday, with the Lakers bouncing off scoreboards and diving into photographers and holding somebody to eight points in the fourth quarter.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. There is indeed still a Game 4 remaining here Sunday.

There is even an unconfirmed rumor that the Spurs are considering showing up, although Staples Center fans looking for a good fight probably wouldn’t mind if they sent the Clippers instead.

After their sweep over Portland led to the firing of a coach, and their sweep over Sacramento will probably lead to the departure of a superstar, their sweep here would lead to--gasp--another San Antonio asterisk.

The Spurs would become only the third team in NBA history to finish the season with the league’s best record, and then get swept in the playoffs. The Baltimore Bullets (1968-69) and Lakers (‘76-77) were the other two teams.

Yeah, times were lousy here once too. But that was a long time ago. At least three months.

This particular Laker team’s earlier fragility is the reason its members refuse to run any verbal bull through their china shop.

“History is something you think about when you get old and aren’t playing anymore,” Brian Shaw said. “Right now, we’re just living in the moment.”

Robert Horry agreed, albeit somewhat violently, noting, “The killer instinct doesn’t come until we’re sitting on top of the hill, looking down at all the ones who are dead.”

Maybe we should listen to Horry. Midway through the second quarter, he shouted and limped down the court after being kicked in the calf. He continued limping throughout the game, missing all of his first nine shots.

Until, with about one minute left, that calf suddenly healed and he had a flying slam dunk.

It was that sort of evening. This was not only a victory the Lakers laid on the Spurs, it was a spell.

It was David Robinson waking up to score two dozen points and grab a dozen rebounds . . . and all of it meaning nothing because Horry and Grant combined for 20 rebounds while holding Tim Duncan to three baskets.

“It was luck,” Horry said. “Sometimes that’s just the way the ball bounces.”

Right.

It was Bryant setting the tone midway through the first quarter with five consecutive--would you believe--assists.

“I was very surprised,” Bryant said of the rout.

Sure.

It was Derek Fisher making a layup while falling on his back under the basket, and O’Neal hitting Bryant with a floor-length two-handed assist, and, goodness, even Mark Madsen made hit two free throws and Tyronn Lue hit a jumper.

It is not history yet, but it is history in the making, and isn’t that more fun? Paste it. Post it. Enjoy.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.