A river runs through it.

	Horace Grant and Tim Duncan met on Nov. 8, and Duncan won the battle.

San Antonio, that is. Nice town. Historic. Warm weather. Diverse. How they ever held a Final Four there without hundreds of drunk revelers drowning after falling into said river while trying to negotiate the narrow sidewalks is a mystery for our time, but that's another story.

The Lakers hate it there. Even Shaquille O'Neal gets booed in the Alamodome, and he went to high school in San Antonio, an Army brat who had travelled the world with Mom and the Sarge before landing in the military-rich community. That team has found the sidewalks to be slippery. Took on water in nothing flat. Drowned several times.

How strange to see the defending champions as underdogs to anyone. That's what it's become, though. The Lakers needing to prove they can beat the Spurs, even if just for statement value. Those are, after all, the real stakes when they meet Friday night in Los Angeles, because it's too early for the meeting to have any real impact in the standings. But never too soon to watch knee-jerk columnists and fans (sometimes one and the same) spin the outcome into some big-picture interpretation of impending playoff demise if Purple Reign has to swallow hard again. And you thought they didn't write great comedy in that town anymore.

We're standing by previous declarations in this space that the Lakers are still the team to beat for the title, underwhelming start or not. But with this comes a statement of fact, not opinion. Steven Spielberg doesn't own L.A. as much as the Spurs do.

How far back to do you want to go? San Antonio has won five of the last nine regular-season series and tied two others, meaning the Lakers have claimed two since 1991-92. All five were either by 3-1 or 4-0. Larry Kenon is schooling some guy on the outdoor courts at Venice as we speak.

The playoffs? The Spurs swept them in the 1999 conference semifinals and went 4-2 in the same round in '95, and needed that long only because Nick Van Exel conducted a clinic on ice-in-the-veins three-point runners.

Recent history? The Lakers took the 1997-98 season by 4-0 and then followed that with 2-1, but the Spurs answered with the playoffs that spring. Four-oh.

And then, 3-1 in 1999-2000, with two of the San Antonio victories coming by 24 and 18 points. Asterisk that. This season, when Horace Grant was on board to finally give Los Angeles a defensive presence at power forward and Tim Duncan was working his way back from knee surgery, as he continues to do, the Spurs won 91-81. Duncan had 22 points and 17 rebounds. The Lakers had more than 21 points in only one of the four quarters.

"We thought last year that we'd have to go through them, but they couldn't get through the 82-game season," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said, referring to the Spurs' first-round playoff loss to the Suns with Duncan sidelined by a knee injury. "We were planning on that as a matchup possibility. They are yet a team that is very competent, very precise about how they want to attack us. They've got the tools and the weapons to do it."

That was Nov. 8 in San Antonio. More specifically, in the Alamodoom.

This is Dec. 1 in Los Angeles, and the bottom line: the Spurs have won nine of the last 10 meetings, including the playoffs. The Lakers have lost the air of dominance. Splash.

For the longest time, it was the Jazz. The Lakers had to confront that emotional obstacle, steady, measured, precise Utah having knocked them out of the playoffs two years in a row and thrown other regular-season hells in along the way. Now comes the Spurs, who have the size with Duncan and David Robinson to counter the single-handed terror that is O'Neal and the personality of the Jazz. Disciplined. Unflappable.

But, lurking?

"They're a competent and capable team," Laker Rick Fox said. "You kind of forget they know how to be a potent basketball team."

Much more formidable than last season, too, with Sean Elliott rejuvenated by overcoming serious illness and Derek Anderson rejuvenated by overcoming a season with the Clippers.

There's a lot of Southern California connections actually, making the matchup all the more intriguing. The coaching staff -- Gregg Popovich and assistants Hank Egan and Mike Budenholzer -- all have backgrounds there, as does one of Popovich's lieutenants, R.C. Buford. Anderson and Jaren Jackson played with the Clippers. Danny Ferry was drafted by the Clippers, but found moving to Europe a better option. Steve Kerr is from there. Admiral Robinson was stationed up the coast a bit.

Earthquakes are more considerate reminders of history than the Spurs. Of course, at least you can see the basketball team coming, currently scheduled to hit Friday night. Right through town.

Scott Howard-Cooper covers the NBA for the Sacramento Bee and is a new regular contributor to ESPN.com.