My baseline of success for the Jazz during this postseason was for them to play more than five games with the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals and then declare it a sign of progress for a young, developing team that will have more opportunities in the future.

And then they reach this point, tied 2-2 with the Lakers going into tonight's Game 5 in Los Angeles, and we all realize the standards have to change.

Now, it's more like having a nutritious breakfast, hitting straight golf shots and spelling all the words correctly.

Oh, yeah. The whole outlook is different now.

By winning Sunday's Game 4, even though it unnecessarily became an overtime struggle, the Jazz have improved over last season. To me, lasting this long with the top-seeded Lakers clearly trumps the achievement of beating eighth-seeded Golden State in the second round and then losing to San Antonio in five games of the West finals.

But now that they're here, beginning what amounts to a best-of-three series with the Lakers, that's not good enough. They have a chance to do much more - and they know it.

"I mean, there's no guarantee that just because we're young, we're going to be back here next year," said veteran forward Matt Harpring. "You saw how tough the West was this year. . . . You're an injury away from not making the playoffs. So when you've got an opportunity, you've got to take advantage of it."

Nobody's wishing ill health for Kobe Bryant - OK, let's be honest; everybody in Utah except possibly the Jazz players themselves is mentally sticking pins into the backs of No. 24 dolls at this moment - but the fact is that Kobe's weakened condition gives the Jazz a chance they may not have again anytime soon.

Do you think the Lakers are suddenly going to get worse next year, with Andrew Bynum returning to join Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom?

Playing a Game 5 in L.A., tied 2-2, at one stage of the playoffs or another, could be as good as it ever gets for the Jazz.

That's why tonight is potentially the biggest moment in the franchise's modern era, which is to say the five years since John Stockton and Karl Malone departed.

Executive vice president Kevin O'Connor's reconstruction of the team is still way ahead of schedule, by any reasonable judgment.

And everything suggests that even if the worst happens this week - another first-half struggle for the Jazz in L.A., followed by a second-half comeback that the Lakers manage to finish Friday at EnergySolutions Arena - the Jazz will keep growing.

Just the same, Game 5 is a huge opportunity, the kind where a win could send this team all the way to an NBA championship this year.

In this league, there really are no timetables anymore.

These last five seasons have been "a long, up-and-down struggle," according to coach Jerry Sloan. "We had some tough times, some good times, some bad times. We've been fortunate enough to gradually get a little bit better. That's what you try to do every year.

"Everybody wants us to leap from here into the Finals," Sloan added before Tuesday's practice. "It's a gradual process sometimes, and our guys have done a heck of a job. I've really been pleased with them.

"The way life is, people want more out of them. We want more out of them."

More to the point, they want more out of themselves. The Jazz expected to win this series. Now that it's even after four games, they're the ones reminding everyone that, in Harpring's words, "We haven't won on the road, so we haven't gotten anywhere yet."

Actually, they have accomplished something in this postseason by winning six games - giving them 60 victories, counting the regular season, which is their same total as last year. It's just that they believe there's more to come, beginning tonight on a road that really could take them somewhere.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com