Lakers know it's not done yet

One more victory, and the Lakers turn the defending NBA champions into ex-NBA champions.

One more victory, and the Lakers can sit back, relax and treat one another to more team dinners as they await another opponent.

One more time and, well, if it does end up happening tonight at Staples Center, it probably won't come easily.

The Lakers have a 3-1 lead over the San Antonio Spurs, but there were few celebratory signs Wednesday at their practice facility. The reasons were many.

The Spurs are the Spurs, a veteran team that could easily be tied with the Lakers in this series, if not the ones ahead, 3-1. (A front-page headline in Wednesday's San Antonio Express-News suggested as much, screaming "NO FOUL?" with a photo of the instantly infamous Derek Fisher-Brent Barry non-call at the end of Game 4. Indeed, the league ruled later Wednesday that a two-shot foul should have been awarded to Barry because his path was impeded by Fisher.)

These Lakers are relatively new to this thing, having only a few players with legitimate deep-round playoff experience. (Said Sasha Vujacic: "It's crazy. Besides Kobe [Bryant] and Fish and Luke [Walton], we are like rookies for this kind of thing.")

And there's also that little thing from two years ago that might be tickling the backs of their minds.

Fortunately for the Lakers, only eight teams in NBA history have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, they were the most recent team to cough up a 3-1 lead, falling to Phoenix in the first round of the 2006 playoffs, though the distinction between those Lakers and these Lakers is obvious.

"I think the difference between that team and this team is we were so happy and excited -- we just couldn't believe we were up 3-1 against Phoenix," Walton said. "Last time, we kind of just assumed we were up 3-1, we were going to win. This time around, we know we've got to go out and win that fourth game."

There are, though, plenty of factors weighing heavily on the Lakers' side.

The Spurs have never come back from a 3-1 deficit in their history, going 0-6 when trailing in such best-of-seven series.

More recently, the Lakers are 7-0 at home in the playoffs and have won 13 consecutive home games since a March 28 loss against Memphis.

The Lakers remain wary, however, hoping they feel a less anxiety-provoking emotion a few hours after tonight's tip-off.