Cool, Calm Collective

The Lakers were enjoying their dinner at a South Bay restaurant, each receiving a $9,800 watch as a gift from Kobe Bryant, when reality hit.

Their break was over. The San Antonio Spurs were beckoning. The Lakers knew exactly what time it was.

"You know who you're facing," Pau Gasol said earlier in the day. "They know how to get it done."

The Lakers got together again to view a playoff game, this time watching the Spurs finish off New Orleans.

At the restaurant, Bryant gave each of his teammates a Jaeger-LeCoultre watch as thanks for helping him win the most valuable player award. Then the Lakers went their separate ways, knowing what awaited them Wednesday in the opener of the Western Conference finals -- defense, defense, tradition and more defense.

The Spurs and Lakers have a history, obviously, having crisscrossed each other during their various championship runs over the last decade.

The Spurs have won four of the last nine NBA titles, while the Lakers took the first three of the new millennium.

All along, there were series to remember, moments for each franchise to savor, such as a shot with 0.4 seconds left that defined a career.

San Antonio swept the Lakers in 1999 on the way to its first NBA championship. The Lakers returned the favor with a sweep in 2001 on the way to their second title of this decade. The Lakers took the Spurs again in 2002, winning a five-game series on the way to another championship. The Lakers then needed six games to beat the Spurs in 2004, buoyed by Derek Fisher's "0.4" shot in front of a stunned San Antonio crowd in Game 5.

The teams went 2-2 against each other this season, the Lakers winning the most recent meeting, 106-85, at Staples Center a few days before the regular season ended.

Meanwhile, the Lakers showed up Monday in El Segundo for their first full practice since eliminating the Utah Jazz last Friday.

They looked active and spry. Bryant reported no lingering effects from the back spasms that plagued him a week ago.

"It's a good chance to get fresh legs," Bryant said. "I feel 100%."

In fact, all of the players enjoyed the extra rest.

"You don't know how happy we were to be able to close the [Utah] series in six games and not go to a Game 7," Gasol said. "It gave us these extra couple days to prepare ourselves, to disconnect and to freshen up."

They'll need fresh legs against the presumably battle-weary Spurs, who gave up 90.6 points a game, third-best in the league during the regular season.