Lakers expect Spurs to come out strong

Not so fast.

The Lakers eventually could advance to the NBA Finals, though they're expecting the Spurs to approach tonight's Game 2 like, you know, defending champions.

The Lakers showed up for Thursday's practice with equal parts enthusiasm and realism, knowing they somehow fell 20 points behind the Spurs in Game 1 but also happy to have scored an 89-85 body blow Wednesday in the opener of the Western Conference finals.

Still, there are reasons the Spurs have won four of the last nine NBA championships.

"They're going to keep coming," Kobe Bryant said. "They're hungry to get a back-to-back [title]. I don't see Game 1 lingering into Game 2. I think they'll be ready to go."

Or, as Lamar Odom said, "They're champions, man. You're going to expect a challenge from them at all times."

The challenge probably will be there from the start, seeing how the Spurs couldn't have played much worse in the fourth quarter.

They made only three of 21 shots in the quarter, an unsightly 14.3% shooting accuracy. Furthermore, they were one of nine from three-point range in the quarter and also committed five turnovers.

Bryant was careful to note that the Lakers' defense wasn't the main culprit.

"I don't think any defense is that good," he said. "I think it has to be a combination of them not shooting the ball well, not making shots that they normally make and us applying pressure."

The Lakers, meanwhile, viewed Coach Phil Jackson's latest theme in the film room before practicing Thursday afternoon.

Jackson is now interspersing clips of the movie "The Kingdom" into video sessions, a marked departure from the lighter fare he spliced into the first two rounds -- "Best in Show" and "Speed Racer."

In the newest movie, a small team of U.S. government agents helps solve a terrorist attack on a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia. Jackson's presumed message is that of a small, elite group working together to overcome outside odds.

Whether the significance hits home with the Lakers, the Spurs will be waiting tonight.

"I don't expect them to be off of their psyche or crushed or all of a sudden feeling as though they aren't the better team," Derek Fisher said. "I suspect they'll come back and probably play even better [tonight] so we'll have to be better in order to win."